SHOW AND TELL
Start date: Sep 1, 2014,
End date: Aug 31, 2016
PROJECT
FINISHED
1914 saw the start of WW1, marking the beginning of a turbulent and sad period of our European history that continued through to 1945. In 2014 the children of our schools partnership declare that the world they create for the future will be safe and inclusive where cultural diversity is celebrated and where everyone shares a common goal - peace and wellbeing for all.
The project creates a Transnational Schools Partnership to celebrate individual & collective talent and to study common history through the medium of art and poetry. The partners hold a series of Poetry & Art exhibitions in non-traditional galleries, encouraging self-recognition & expression through recitals and community events.
The theme is Conflict Resolution & World Peace. The project demonstrates how cultural & linguistic diversity and children with mixed physical and academic abilities can produce outstanding results when they work together. Language of the project is English. This project will focus on working with children aged 10-12 years, some with disabilities.
This project widens the horizons of children at partner schools through joint project work. It also offers opportunities for children, teachers and support staff to learn through visits and shared events.
Working alongside community groups and local businesses, using non-traditional galleries to exhibit their joint work, the partnership develops strong links with wider communities to support aspiring literacy & artistic skills. It courts sponsorship by local businesses encouraged to develop entrepreneurship skills.
36 Children & 18 staff take part in mobilities, together exploring & discovering diversity, celebrating physical & cultural differences & sharing each national identity. Differences are explored, social & traditional values explained & differences in daily routine provide ample scope for illustration & recording. Art works, prose & poetry are published.
There are class to class Skype sessions where children & staff set targets and take joint decisions about each stage of the project. Through these sessions and in follow-up classwork art works & poems are created on the theme of Conflict Resolution, marking the 100th anniversary of WW1, an event that had profound impact across Europe. Children & staff learn about their each community's local history and in 5-day workshops they learn about different cultures, languages and traditions, visiting relevant sites to increase their understanding of the conequencies of conflict.
Objectives:
1. Develop a trans-national project on the theme of Conflict Resolution and World Peace, based on shared poetry and art exhibitions and poetry recitals in non-traditional galleries, inviting sponsorship & community support.
Approach: Form a Transnational Partnership, sharing expertise and teacher talent, sharing good practice. Engage with local communities to share events, seek sponsorship, learn from partners, share expertise and exchange good practice across partnership.
2. To reduce language barriers and to stimulate each child’s natural curiosity about other lands and other cultures, leading to wider horizons and reduced prejudice and exclusion.
Approach: regular Skype class to class sessions linked to lessons & curriculum, teacher face to face and Skype sessions, partner meetings, pupil and teacher exchanges. Shared exhibitions. Joint publications.
3. To facilitate mobility opportunities for children and school staff. Developing deeper understanding of teaching methods and the cultural and physical environment in which children learn. Learning about local history.
Achieved by exchanges, Skype sessions, mobilities & workshops, meetings and shared events.
4. Reduce barriers to integration. Approach used: Work with staff & pupils & wider communities on themes of mixing abilities, mixing cultures, mixing styles & sharing benefits, children expressing their feelings through appropriate forms of art. Demonstrating how individual skills & talents build into an inclusive society. Form local Focus Groups to guide local projects with link into the wider community.
5. To produce a series of Art and Poetry Exhibitions & Recitals in non-traditional galleries, bringing together communities and businesses, encouraging entrepreneurship and sponsorship, recognising individual talent and the power of collective creation. Resulting in empowerment of pupils and their staff, celebrating success together with recognition that physical, intellectual and language barriers are removable.
6. To create a Catalogue of Poetry and Art,
Approach: publish a book to sell at the end of the project and creating a School Business Team (including pupils and supported by local enterprises) that will market the product and offer individual prints and other merchandise. Form a Business Team comprising pupils, staff, parents, local SMEs, community representatives to create a business plan and to promote the project and its products.
Sell products.