CITIZENSHIP The Police Community Clubs
December 2012
magazine for schools
Contents REGULAR ITEMS Police Community Clubs of Great Britain: News
Welcome from the Editor 5
AWARDS WINNERS Action Against Anti-Social Behaviour Award 6 The Barney & Echo Action Against Bullying Project Award 8 The Green Schools Sustainability Project Award 10 The Police Club News Out of School Activity Award 14 The Personal Money Management Award 16 Community Aware Care In The Community Award 18 The Umbro Community Sports Project Award 20 The Inspiring Career Opportunity Award 22 The Green Awareness Award for an Eco Team or Club 24 The Green Schools Recycling Project Award 26 The Lord John Stevens Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement 28 The Healthy Eating Initiative Award 30 The Commitment to Saving Award 32 The SCC Internet Safety Project Award 34 The Contender Am-Box Award for Outstanding After School/ Pre-School Club 36 Editor
Andrew Davies
Design
Joanne Hewitt
Welcome to this Special Edition of Citizenship Magazine! In this issue, we review the fantastic, award-winning achievements of those who were successful in the Community Education Awards 2012. Following on from the success of the first ever Awards ceremony held in 2011, organisers (Community Initiatives Associates) were inundated with even more entries for this years Awards. The number of categories was extended this year with 15 Awards issued to the schools and the individuals who had made an incredible contribution to their school community. Here at the Citizenship Magazine, we are constantly highlighting the importance of providing young people with the tools to go on to become positive members of their community. The evidence laid across the pages of this magazine will show the work schools are doing to ensure just that. We look at the stories behind every winner of a Community Education Award and pay tribute to their outstanding commitment, dedication and success. From community gardens and sports projects to innovations in money management and internet safety; our collection of winners cover a massive array of subjects. From reading the nominations and speaking to those who have won these Awards, it is a testament to the attitude of teachers across the length and breadth of the country that they are proud to associate themselves with this Awards programme. It is fantastic to see how much these Awards mean and shows how important they can be in helping schools and individuals gain recognition for work that can so often go unnoticed. Although we feature the winners stories, I must also praise the projects and people who were unfortunate to not have won an Award. Judging for this year was incredibly difficult not only due to the significantly higher number of entries than last year, but also the high quality of nominations in all of the categories. When hosting last years ceremony, Esther Rantzen commented on the need for the pupils themselves to be involved in the celebrations. As a result, organisers decided this year to visit the schools to make presentations which could be seen by the whole school in assemblies where everyone could feel a part of the success. I hope you enjoy this review of the winners of the Community Education Awards 2012 and that you find inspiration from their stories of success. Andrew Davies, Editor
Advertising 01244 316629 support@thecitizenshipmagazine.org Publisher
Community Initiatives Associates 0800 783 5805
Police Community Clubs of Great Britain Barry Jones MBE Po Box 160, Bideford, Devon, EX39 9DL 01237 474 869 www.thepolicecommunityclubs.org Notice to Advertisers Whilst every care is taken to ensure that the contents including advertisements are accurate, the publisher cannot assume responsibility for errors.
Š All rights reserved. No part of The Citizenship Magazine for Schools may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the editor. Copyright2009 ISSN Applied For.
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The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain NEWS
Since our last edition we have completed the work on our latest resource ‘Uchooze’. This innovative, professional programme addresses four strands under our citizenship portfolio those being anti-social behaviour, alcohol abuse, knife crime and gangs. All these subject areas are replicated and supported by age appropriate material for the younger student. The programme which has been piloted by our colleagues in Derbyshire will be marketed nationwide from January 2013.
Barry Jones MBE
In closing, I would like to thank all of our sponsors, partners, clubs and volunteers for their hard work and continuing support, wishing them and all our readers a peaceful and successful year ahead. For more information about the Police Community Clubs of Great Britain, please visit www.policecommunityclubs.org. Barry T Jones MBE Founder of the Police Community Clubs of Great Britain
Our subsidiary company ‘British Sports Academies’ continues to have talks with a number of FE – HE Colleges and other diverse organisations. We are hopefully going to release information on new projects in our next edition of this publication. Our new Police Clubs exclusive citizenship programme aligned to non-contact Olympic-style boxing called The Contender Plus+ Coaches course continues to be rolled out throughout the country. This delivers instruction in all the skills elements of the sport together with material to deliver our citizenship programmes to any group in any suitable environment. All successful coaches are free to deliver their own Contender Am-Box programme whilst being fully insured by The Clubs. Anyone interested in discovering more about this programme should contact our office or email: policecc@aol.com As we look forward to the challenges of 2013, we are confident that our work will continue to expand with the introduction of new programmes which support deliveries of sport, citizenship and education to our ever increasing audience and clients. The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 5
Winner Budehaven Community School ‘Community Action Through Sport’ Nominated by: Denise May MBE
Community Action Through Sport (CATS) started as a joint initiative by the school, police and local community to work with young people in the town who at the time felt disenfranchised after a dispersal order was placed in the area. The overall aims of the project were to ‘promote, recognise and reward all young people for positive community action with sports and healthy living based awards’. Many of these sports were ones the young people had not considered or been able to afford previously. The project also sought to create sports diversionary projects for young people at risk so they could gain coaching skills. “The issues facing young people today and the perception communities have of them led to the youngsters of Bude in 2004 standing up to the authorities and questioning the good things young people do but do not get recognised for. It was recognised that sport needed to be more available to young people, improving accessibility and impacting on a healthier, more active lifestyle,” said CATS cofounder, Denise May. Other issues were raised around the cost of attending sports clubs and the need to change the local public perception of the town’s youth. As a result, CATS was formed. A committee was formed which encompassed a range of partners in the community. The essential element
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of the committee is the presence of young people who represent the voice and direction of the scheme itself. Denise added: “It was important for all partners to see the scheme as a support mechanism, rather than a conflict to associations already in existence.” The committee would then meet regularly to decide on criteria for sports rewards and presentation dates. Young people were nominated for their positive involvement in the community which included participating in litter picking, beach cleaning, fundraising, sports coaching or mentoring. Launched in March 2005 with its first awards ceremony, the project
recognised 150 young people. CATS did not have any funding to start with so they needed to build up relationships with sports providers who could donate free sports sessions. The project was then given support from the local council as well as private sports businesses. The other challenge that faced CATS was ensuring there were projects for young people to take part in. The school worked well within its local community but in order to engage the wider area they began working with police and youth groups who could communicate with youths who had become disengaged. Word soon spread to other schools and police forces and CATS found there was interest from other areas
ACTION AGAINST ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AWARD
looking to implement this simple and effective scheme. They now have several branches with functioning committees, a supporting operational manual, volunteer and child protection policies. The rewards criteria has now been extended to five levels (it was originally three) which correlate to national standards, meeting ASDAN and Duke of Edinburgh Awards criteria, reflecting their level of commitment to their community. This community scheme positively raises the profile of young people. It challenges perceptions whilst providing the opportunity for children to gain sports rewards. This goes towards improving cohesion within the community and the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Young people have gained confidence, improved their selfesteem and seen improvements in their behaviour and attitude. Other
generations are now talking about young people in a more positive light and are taking ownership of projects that affect the whole town. “It (the project) surpassed all expectations. What started as a small initiative in Bude, has now developed into a national charity supporting other young people across the country,� commented Denise. Budehaven has become a flagship town to other schools through the Youth Sport Trust for its community engagement work. Young people are volunteering and gaining new skills through the sports diversionary projects, which in turn has led to employment. Community members support the project through their nominations and are contributing free sports awards. They are also invited to attend the awards evening and act as presenters. To date over 2,000 young people have been rewarded.
After seven years, CATS continue to go from strength to strength and with individual branches becoming self-sustainable, they look set to continue to reward young people for many more years to come.
Highly Commended: Hafod Primary School, Swansea. Harefield Infant School, London. Witshire College, Chippenham. Peacock Gym Academy, London.
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Winner Wiltshire College
‘Barney and Echo Police Community Clubs of Great Britain’ Nominated by: Karen Colley
The Student Union at Wiltshire College sponsor the purchase of citizenship books from the Police Community Clubs of Great Britain which are then donated to nominated local primary schools to support their PSHE programme. Karen Colley said: “The Student Union at Wiltshire College have a history of active fundraising and community based volunteering. They also play a fundamental part in the delivery of the College’s Community Campus Programme which follows the themes of the Every Child Matters Agenda. “It aims to raise awareness of issues in an innovative and exciting way, encouraging students to be involved in both the management of their health and well being and the learning process. Through Community Campus we are able to introduce innovative projects; such as this which also actively helps the community.” The PCCGB approached Wiltshire College to purchase books from the Barney & Echo range. A specific theme within the Community Campus programme is keeping safe and bullying and this is a subject that is focused on 8
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within school PSHE programmes. When the college are approached for sponsorship, a discussion is held with the Student Union as it is their decision which charities they choose to support. After a discussion with the Student Union, it was decided that the college would go ahead if there was interest from a local primary school. A school near to the Chippenham Campus were contacted and it was identified
that this would be a worthwhile partnership and the Student Union proceeded to set the project up. Aims for the project included – managing a working partnership and developing community links. The college hoped to actively support the schools PSHE programme by providing resources that they could then keep for future use. It was also hoped that awareness would be raised around the issues of bullying amongst children.
THE BARNEY & ECHO ACTION AGAINST BULLYING PROJECT AWARD Involvement in the project also benefitted the Student Union by improving team performance and seeing the benefits of their contributions. “This project has now become an annual consideration for the new Student Union each year and has gone on to be successfully delivered three times with plans to support the project with a further two primary schools this year if the Student Union are in agreement,” commented Karen. Nine students are involved in the ongoing project with hours spent organising Student Union meetings and then liaising with the chosen primary schools. The project is coordinated by the Student Liaison Officer and overseen by the Head of Student Liaison and Enrichment. Volunteering, enrichment and team building were all fundamental experiences that students gained from being involved in the project. Karen added: “With one of the primary schools we were able to extend the project to a poster competition for the school children, and these posters were displayed in the Community Campus Area at the college. The winners of the competition visited the college for a presentation of the book voucher prizes also purchased by the Student Association (Union) at the time.” The project has managed to fulfil all the objectives it set out to achieve. The college have been able to successfully facilitate the scheme with three local primary schools and extend the project to a second of the four main college campuses. Student involvement was able to be recorded by monitoring the volunteering hours spent on the
project which as a result contributed to students’ volunteer record and where appropriate, this could then be used for CVs and personal statements for university applications. Students were able to experience the benefits of the project first hand. The local primary school children benefitted from the resources which were donated to them and they were also able to benefit from meeting college students which will hopefully help raise their
aspirations. Finally, Karen commented: “We hope that this partnership project benefits all stakeholders. College students benefit from the experience of working within the community and we hope that the college students are a positive role model for school children. We believe that we have successfully set up a project that can be rolled out in future years and demonstrates best practice within a community.” The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 9
Winner Middleton St Mary’s C of E Primary School
‘Woodlands Community Garden’ Nominated by: Sarah Tarrant
The Woodlands Community Garden project has created ‘the largest classroom in the school’. It is a project that all of the children can access throughout the school day and in extra curricular events. It is open to the whole community and supports the local area. It is about education, conservation, sustainability, food growing, habitat creating, citizenship,
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responsibility and community partnerships through all generations. “Our field was a blank, open space with a huge metal fence separating it from the playground. It was a no-go area for little children as older ones would run around playing football. There was nowhere to experience outdoor learning, no habitats to explore, no flowers to examine or fruits to
taste. As a school we didn’t take part in many activities within the community and we were, in some areas, quite isolated,” explained Sarah Tarrant. Sarah created a power point presentation of all the areas that were to be tackled first and held a whole school assembly to discuss with the children their ideas and thoughts. The contribution of the children’s own ideas was crucial
THE GREEN SCHOOLS SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT AWARD as it would be they who would have ownership of the garden. The aims were to engage the whole school and for parents to work alongside their children, to grow their own produce, reach isolated parents, bring generations together and improve the school grounds while enriching the pupils learning experiences. The project has been photographed since it started and has provided an important measure of how far the project has come. The school also used the Leeds In Bloom judging criteria as a base to look critically at the garden and ensure improvements are being made year on year. Sarah said: “Our progress (has been) from Silver, for two years, and now for this year we have achieved Gold status. This has been transferred to the RHS School Garden Awards where we have attained Level 4. This benchmarking scheme gives us ideas of new areas to work on and ways to bring in greater community involvement.� The project began in 2008 with a work day by Yorkshire Water and was completed this summer. The garden club runs one session after school each week and now the garden is fully open, children and staff use the area throughout the day. All of the children are now able to use the field and sports still take place. The children and staff have access to two outdoor classrooms, a poly tunnel and numerous planters that are raised for access. There are habitats to explore including a pond, woodland area, orchard, meadow and bird watching area. The school are now involved with the The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 11
THE GREEN SCHOOLS SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT AWARD community and no longer feel isolated. “The photographs really show what a difference the garden has made to the school grounds. For new children they cannot believe that it wasn’t always so and for older children, who return to visit like my son, they comment on how ‘every year it gets better and there’s more’,” commented Sarah. When the school won the Community Pride Award it gave the children and staff greater confidence to expand the project and reach further into the community. The Leeds In Bloom competition has also given the whole school an immense feeling of pride and ownership of the garden. Many businesses and community members have been involved throughout the project and Sarah admits she is regularly spoken to by parents about their children’s experiences and how they are growing different things at home or attending events organised by the school. The school has supported groups such as the ‘Growing Zone’ in Kippax – a garden for people
with disabilities and ‘Dug Out’ which is an allotment group who have recently started out and have benefitted from the schools donation of spare tools. The church community are also aware of the schools’ endeavours and offer support to the project and this has seen the school join the Friends of Middleton Park and are working together to help support the regeneration of the Middleton area. Head teacher Sarah Graham added: “The school is committed to developing an outdoor
curriculum and this is enhanced through the improvements to the school grounds. The new school improvement plan has the development of the outdoor space as one of its priorities. One aspect of this will be to use the outdoor area to support the social, moral, spiritual and cultural curriculum. This will include the children working with the vicar to develop areas for quiet contemplation.” Since the start of the project, the school have planted over 100 native woodland and fruit trees, a native hedgerow, wildflower meadow, nature pond- which is now a protected site with breeding newts, planted over 10,000 spring bulbs and created a learning space that will last for many years. The school is now officially a Gold Medal Garden with Leeds In Bloom and something that the children, staff and parents will continually work to retain and inspire other schools to do the same.
Highly Commended:
Tenby Junior School Beaumont Primary School Hawkshead Esthwaite Primary
Winner Portree Primary School
‘Health and Fitness for All’ Nominated by: John Finlayson
The purpose of this winning project was to create as many opportunities as possible for young people to take part in healthy activities both in and out of school and encourage parents and community members to support the initiative. The school also wished to provide resources and training for those adults who took on the responsibility of volunteers and coaches. Another aim was to involve the school in local and national activities, competitions and events and not allow geographical location to interfere with the opportunities the school was able to offer its pupils. John Finlayson said: “There were not enough opportunities for children to take part in activities. What was in place was not strategic or regular and pupils and parents were wanting more.” 14 The Citizenship Magazine for Schools
As a result, the school sought to involve pupils regularly in healthy activities, provide training for teachers and community members, create a junior sports club that worked both independently and with the school and also raise funds to be able to buy a bus to enable the children to travel to activities. This has all now been achieved. Portree Primary measured the success of the project by monitoring the uptake of pupils, the number of activities made available, the number of coaches/ volunteers involved and finally the improvements in pupil fitness. This initiative is to remain ongoing for the foreseeable future with further training, coaching and fundraising having been put in place. Currently, the project takes place every evening and every Saturday during term time. Between 200-
300 pupils are regularly taking part. In the run up to the Olympics, more time was spent on the project which see’s school staff, coaches, active schools co-ordinators and PE staff working together. A number of classroom resources are used to motivate and enthuse pupils about health and fitness and these are used to support the health curriculum which is then supported by the after school clubs. Involving the local community; a number of community members are coaches with training offered to parents who want to participate. The business community also contributes with sponsorship and have helped provide 50 per cent of the funding required for a new bus. Local companies have also sponsored sports kit.
THE POLICE CLUB NEWS OUT OF SCHOOL ACTIVITY AWARD The project’s successes are regularly reported in the local press and the school has been successful in winning national sporting events. According to John, the school has more than met its objectives for the project. “An extensive programme of extra-curricular activities are available each night during term time and they are supported by volunteer parents, coaches and other adults. A minibus has been bought and pupils take part in activities all over the Highlands and Scotland and have even been to Ireland,” he said. The project continues to thrive each term and has a long term aim of being sustainable as a core activity and 87 per cent of pupils are currently involved in the clubs. This has therefore seen an improvement in general fitness levels and more activities are added every year. Pupils selfesteem has been enhanced through taking part and there is a positive attitude to health and well-being at the school. The project has also provided a positive link between the school
and the wider community. John added: “The wider community supports the project and without this it would not continue to succeed. The wider community feels pride in what the school does and achieves and supports all activities and events. “It is a living legacy with more ambitions to come (with) lots of successes, lots of social and educational integration, lots of ongoing involvement. Previous successes are what makes people want to join and want to succeed and improve.”
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Winner Haberdashers Aske’s Knights Academy
‘Mybnk Money Twist’ Nominated by: Laura Van Huyssteen
Money Twist arms students with real life money skills through a series of hands-on workshops. Mybnk’s expert trainers use real life case studies, interactive resources, games and videos drawn from young people’s age group and popular culture. This enables students to explore and form their own opinions about
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money and enterprise. Financial Education is part of the PSHE curriculum at the academy so staff investigated different and interesting ways to deliver this to the students and during this time, Mybnk was discovered. After consultation between the school and Mybnk, it was agreed to set up a strategic and logical set of
sessions to deliver to the students. Mybnk have developed their programmes over many years and include feedback from young people and input from their youth advisory panel in this process. Before coming in to deliver the sessions, they call the academy to find out more about the students’
THE PERSONAL MONEY MANAGEMENT AWARD
backgrounds and circumstances, as well as their ability levels and what they have done around money management before. The trainers then tailored the project to meet the needs of the students. For example, for year 7 students it was important to focus on the concept of money before delving in to how to manage it. Year 8 students then handled more complex topics around personal finance (such as budgeting). The project aimed to improve student’s knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their money more effectively. Mybnk conducted a base and end line questionnaire before and after each session. This was used to gauge the participants financial knowledge, confidence and behaviour towards saving. Mybnk then used this information to produce an outcomes report. Workshops were ran at different days throughout the academic year with each year group taking part having either 50 or 100 minute sessions. In total there was 28 hours of delivery completed by Mybnk staff as well as additional time organising staff and logistics for the days. Laura Van Huyssteen said: “The project was delivered during our PSHCE days – which are ‘drop down’ days where normal school lessons are suspended for the day and then an individualised programme for each year group is planned and delivered.” An example of the activities used during the project was the session on the ‘Story of Money’. This involved students retelling the
history of money in a comic strip format. Students also explored the security features of money by playing detectives with real bank notes. Armed with UV lights and magnifying glasses they identified security features on notes. All the students who took part have gained a better understanding of financial matters and enterprise. The students also now display a better understanding of the related concepts to personal finance. “Learning the worth of money and ways to earn it have made our students and school appreciate things better. The general feeling of: if you work hard – you will reap the rewards, has started to disseminate through the school, especially with the younger students. “Being aware of financial and enterprising issues has allowed
students, especially in their own home environments, to be aware of ‘worth’, of what their parents are spending and the different ways to make money,” commented Laura. Due to the success of this project, further Money Twist programmes have been commissioned for students in years 7-13. The partnership with Mybnk is set to grow as the academy prepare sixth form students for managing their money at university. This will see them take part in the ‘Uni Dosh’ programme. Laura added: “Empowering students with knowledge about finance and enterprise can only influence the work around them as they will not take things for granted and will start to develop a more healthy attitude towards money and work.”
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Winner Marlfields Primary School
‘Bearmania’ Nominated by: Sandra Isherwood
“Bearmania was a world class community art event in Congleton staged over 18 weeks from April – November 2011,” said Sandra Isherwood. The event was advertised across all media outlets helping to raise the profile of Congleton as a tourist destination. Seventyfive uniquely identifiable 5ft bear sculptures directed visitors on a trail through the town of Congleton celebrating both the town’s cultural identity and its status as an area of outstanding natural beauty. Children from the school committee at Marlfields Primary asked headteacher Sandra: “If Liverpool can have lamb bananas, Manchester cows and now Chester rhinos; why can’t Congleton have bears? Every school can decorate them, putting them around town to share with everyone.” Congleton in Cheshire is known as Beartown. From January 2011, Congleton’s local community, schools and businesses were invited to sponsor and decorate their own 5ft fibreglass bear. The Bearmania bear was modelled on the Moon Bears of Asia, and 10 per cent of the profits from Bearmania have been donated to Animals Asia. A Congleton sculptor designed the original bear model, and each one was painted in accordance with the desires of the sponsors – from school children to local businesses.
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COMMUNITY AWARE CARE IN THE COMMUNITY AWARD
Bearmania fever began and this included articles in the regional press as well as a combination of media including 15 radio interviews and five TV interviews seeing awareness spread through Congleton with the majority of local schools and businesses sponsoring a bear. “Cheshire East Council also bought a bear which was a fantastic result for the children as it is their local council who showed great faith in bringing their idea to market,” added Sandra. It was calculated that around 450 hours were spent on the project in total. Over 3,500 pupils within Congleton took an active part in the project from the thirteen primary schools and two secondary schools in the area. The Bearmania project has truly brought local people, schools and businesses in Congleton together. An impressive 27,000 new visitors have been to Congleton to follow the Bearmania trail and local businesses have reported a boost in profits, especially when they had a bear located on their premises. Since Bearmania launched, there has been 16,000
unique visits to www.mybeartown. co.uk and 100,000 website pages have been viewed. Sandra said: “People now see the town as vibrant and moving forward and that our pupils are an active part of this movement – we have very little free commercial space in town now and local people use the town centre for shopping due to the community events that are constantly being arranged to draw people in.” The project went on to exceed the initial need that was identified. The original aim of the project was to put 16 school bears out into the local environment to share Marlfields Primary artwork with other schools in the community. The project saw 75 bears being placed on the ‘trail’ with another 52 small bears in the local environment. The idea was not to make money, however at the end of the project over £10,000 was donated to charities both locally and nationally. Town planners, councillors, schools, business community and voluntary groups are now communicating well with each other as there is a realisation that
by working together as a team far more can be achieved in the town. The legacy of the project has since seen the team working on a ‘Community Garden’. Also, there is currently an overwhelming pressure to do something on the scale of Bearmania again. The drive and enthusiasm of the Beartown volunteer group is impressive and membership is growing continually as the school are now part of the Congleton Town Partnership. The group are seen as innovative in bringing the ideas of children to those who wish to promote the town in many ways. Sandra said: “Congleton now certainly embraces the children’s ideas and inputs them into the town plan for its future. It is also amazing to see the response from the children who now believe that the older people of the town will listen to their ideas and more importantly take them seriously and help them to achieve their dreams.”
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Winner Harelestone/Brington Primary Schools
‘Althorp School Games’ Nominated by: Helen Fagan
Helen Fagan describes this Award Winning project… This was an opportunity for small rural primary schools that have small pupil numbers to hold an Olympic-style sports day. I was fortunate to be given use of Althorp House and their
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grounds. We held our event on the same day as the real torch came to Althorp House. I had volunteers from clubs, large local companies, senior schools, etc; who all wanted to help make this a once in a lifetime experience for 550 primary school children and create a lasting legacy.
Small schools have small pupil numbers and often find it very difficult to hold competitive sports days due to lack of numbers, grounds and facilities. Many opportunities we all have involves joining with other schools to be able to participate in events. This means we are not recognised as a
THE UMBRO COMMUNITY SPORTS PROJECT AWARD
school individually. We therefore have to reject some opportunities. Having worked in the school and having had responsibility of organising many sporting events, I felt there was a need to highlight small schools and the issues we face with sports (year group sizes and low numbers). The aim of the project was to give every child the chance to compete and learn from outside providers. This also gave the children the competitive edge that we as a small school don’t usually get. With the London Olympics taking place this year, we all wanted to be part of it too. We measured the success of this by having 10 small schools wanting to take part and others also requesting to be involved. We had lots of help with large local companies and clubs all wanting to be involved as well. To see 550 children smiling and laughing was amazing and I think that was a success in itself. I coordinated all the schools and guided them in what I was trying to achieve. Sports events were led by Everyone Active and sports leaders trying to get their Level One (qualification) from a local upper school. Head teachers were responsible for their own schools. Planning this event was (done) in my own time whilst a lot of things like; having our own torch
relay between the schools, the learning the schools did for their chosen country, the production of facts and artwork; were all done in class time. We used a local leisure centre called Everyone Active to sort out the events. Daventry Athletics Club came and did training sessions on the day. School sports leaders from Campion School came and ran the events to get their Level One. Each and every child experienced and took part in disabled and able bodied sporting events. This was a chance of a lifetime to be involved in history. There is press and media footage on ITV and BBC news as well as coverage in the Chronicle and Echo and Daventry Express newspapers. Three schools won the trophies, great relationships were formed
with other small schools and with outside providers who are continuing to help in other projects. This has highlighted small schools and put them on the map now. We have a lot to offer, inspiring children on to bigger and greater things in the future. We have been fortunate to have formed brilliant relationships with companies that helped us that day and they are involving themselves with other projects and so bringing our small schools even more opportunities. The London 2012 Olympics was all about inspiring and creating a lasting legacy. I think we have been able to give 550 children the tools to think towards their futures and see that we all have the opportunity to achieve, regardless of disability, colour or size of the school.
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Winner STEPS Centre
‘STEPS/Barnardo’s South Somerset Initiative’ Nominated by: Diane Trewick
As a small KS4 Pupil Referral Unit, based in a relatively remote corner of Somerset, STEPS, who had worked successfully with Barnardo’s on a play project, developed a working partnership to enable the charity to deliver a Motor Project in the area. The need for such an initiative was identified when staff recognised there were no opportunities in the Chard area to gain a qualification in Motor Mechanics without travelling long
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distances and being accepted on to college sites. The two main areas of research were to ascertain the need for the project and also the location of the delivery. One of the Senior Leadership Team researched other local education providers in order to ensure there would be sufficient uptake of places to make the project financially viable. A second member of the Senior Leadership Team researched sites and was able to negotiate a space at a
local engineering company free of charge. This project looked at enabling Barnardo’s to deliver their Revolutions Motor Project to the area. It was also important that the project enabled students who had been excluded or at risk of exclusion the opportunity to gain a Level One ABC qualification. Other aims included enhancing students’ chances of gaining college placements, work experience or apprenticeships and
THE INSPIRING CAREER OPPORTUNITY AWARD
to nurture students’ personal, social and emotional development. The progress and success of the project was measured by monitoring student exam results, student destination data on leaving STEPS, students personal and social development and also by Barnardo’s monitoring individual outcomes for all young people attending Revolutions. This is an ongoing project that began over 18 months ago. Pupils participated in practical work and practical and academic assessments, team work, cooperative working, awareness of health and safety issues whilst they were also given opportunities for work experience. Barnardo’s have since used students writing about the project as publicity material. Diane Trewick is in no doubt that the project was a success, commenting: “Absolutely (the project fulfilled the need which was identified), it was very successful and continues to be. A vocational project was
established for young people in South Somerset in an area that had little opportunity for motor mechanics training. (It gave) An opportunity for students to spend time with good adult role models, encouraging their personal, social and emotional development.” Three students gained a Level one ABC Motor Mechanics qualification. Of those three students one was from a traveller background who had started at STEPS with low levels of literacy. He achieved the qualification and has now been accepted on a Level 2 apprenticeship course at college. Another student could not cope with mainstream school and had missed huge chunks of schooling leaving them socially isolated for over a year. Helped by the project, they secured work experience at a local garage and were subsequently offered an apprenticeship. The third student also secured an apprenticeship on the basis of their qualification. All the students benefitted from the additional personal, social and emotional skills that have become
an integral part of the project’s ethos. “STEPS has a very close relationship with Barnardo’s as a result of being instrumental in enabling the Revolutions Project to expand and extend to this part of the county. Three other educational establishments catering for vulnerable students have taken up places at the project,” said Diane. The project is set to carry on through the current academic year with students having already enrolled. Barnardo’s are also considering offering short courses in the future if they have the capacity. Diane added: “It has been great for raising awareness of the work Barnardo’s does in the south west. It has given a focus to a variety of schools on the charity of Barnardo’s. As students leave the course to continue further education, links are built with colleges.” For more information about Revolutions visit www.barnardos. org.uk/revolutions.htm The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 23
Winner Spittal Primary School
‘Spittal Primary Eco Group’ Nominated by: Lorna Hunter
Spittal Primary School established an Eco Group made up of representatives from each class with the intention of working towards gaining Green Flag status. “This is a national programme which schools are encouraged to participate in. We identified a need for pupils to be involved in environmental issues such as recycling, composting, litter
24 The Citizenship Magazine for Schools
control and learning about the outdoors – particularly the local area,” said Lorna Hunter. It was hoped that this project would help foster a sense of identity and provide opportunities for children to develop skills relating to the four capacities for Curriculum for Excellence. Targets are set out at the beginning of each academic session and
measured using related success criteria as set out in the Eco Schools Programme. This ongoing project must be sustainable in order to develop pupil understanding and also increase responsibility. Curriculum time, planning and evaluation time continues throughout the school year. The pupil group meet regularly and are led in a number
THE GREEN AWARENESS AWARD FOR AN ECO TEAM OR CLUB
of activities by class teacher, Brenda Clark. The whole school take part in the project including the nursery class and all staff members who also participate were led by Mrs Clark. Time was spent on the project both in and out of the classroom. Pupils were involved with litter picking on the school grounds and in and around the local area surrounding the school. The children collect paper for recycling weekly from all rooms throughout the school, including classrooms and offices. Pens are also collected for recycling and pupils have visited nearby Castlemilk Park to learn about wildlife and natural plants. In terms of utilising classroom resources to help benefit the project, computers are used for pupils to create and then present slideshow presentations to the
rest of the school and to parents too. A competition was run where all classes were asked to create an ‘eco-code’. The winner was a rap by one of the classes and this is now recited at school assemblies. A local artist has been involved in helping to paint murals in the playground for the children to make the playground more attractive and the project has seen the school enjoy positive publicity through the local press. The initial activities encouraged the children and staff to want to become an eco school and achieve Green Flag status. Lorna is in no doubt that the project fulfilled its objectives, commenting: “Originally only litter picking was introduced but this has evolved to include recycling, composting, planting seeds and bulbs, installing bird boxes, promoting healthy eating and
saving electricity by auditing the number of lights left on and promoting and monitoring a reduction in this.” Since the project started, the school has seen an improvement in the amount of energy saved through the reduced number of lights being left on. The children involved are now seen to be growing in confidence due to the increase in their responsibilities. All the staff have become fully involved and are constantly supporting the work and there is an ongoing enthusiasm for the project with the introduction of a ‘Health Week’ at the school.
Highly Commended: Tenterden CE Junior School
Winner Our Lady & St Oswald’s Primary School
‘Hug Our World’ Nominated by: Amanda Paterson
This project aimed to increase the understanding of recycling throughout the school and the understanding of the variety of ways a community can benefit from recycling instead of simply throwing items away. “The children were bringing drinks bottles in every day and throwing them in the bin. The school is positioned next to a public pathway which constantly had waste everywhere. We started by collecting them, then we collected plastic bags and this developed into parents bringing
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their empty glass bottles also. We needed new containers for holding their purses for lunch money,” said Amanda Paterson. From there, the school’s Eco Group met with members of staff, parents and a local community group to formulate ideas around recycling. All the ideas were based around the aim of reducing the amount of waste at the school and to make pupils stop and think about everything they were throwing away. Soon, a once very small Eco Group were the talk of the school
with all the pupils wanting to be involved. Over the course of a year, the school have worked towards and successfully achieved the ‘Silver Schools Eco Award’ and are now working towards their Green Flag. In order to achieve this success, a number of activities were devised to involve all the pupils. Reception and year 1 classes took part in workshops themed ‘Recreate’, making toys out of items such as paper, milk bottle lids and plastic bottles. They learnt about children making these toys
THE GREEN SCHOOLS RECYCLING PROJECT AWARD
in Africa and India. Pupils in year 2 visited a nature reserve and landfill site and brought their ideas into the lessons. Years 3 and 4 created an outdoor shelter for the playground, using waste end pipes from Severn Trent Water. Year 5 collected industrial waste plastic tubes that once contained cooking fat and turned them into storage boxes whilst children in year 6 collected empty glass bottles and then recycled them into glass dishes. In addition to this, years 3-6 visited The Project Group in Oswestry where they worked with people with disabilities, using professional equipment. Amanda added: “The children made their own posters which are now displayed throughout the school. In numeracy, they kept tally charts of the waste they were collecting. In literacy, they wrote to companies asking for donations. They looked on the computers for information concerning the effects of waste on Earth such as in the rainforest.” As well as working with outside agencies, the school held a special assembly where all the helpers were invited and were told by the children how much fun it was gaining an understanding of recycling. The Eco Group also attended a general meeting of Shropshire Council in Ludlow where they gave a presentation to councillors. It’s clear this new ethos around recycling has had a positive impact on the children who have even approached the school cook to ask if there was anything they could do with waste generated
from the canteen. This has led to the purchase of a Wormery which is now used daily. Recycling is now a buzz word around the school with the children constantly coming up with fresh ideas. Parents, carers and grandparents are also on board and are eager to help and support the Eco Group. The school have also benefited from the playground shelter as Amanda explains: “The Children were looking at obtaining some sort of shelter for the playground where they could eat their lunch. They achieved that by making something for themselves from waste. This is proudly positioned
in the playground next to a general public path that people often comment on or ask questions about. “They recently collected all the glass bottles used in there homes over the Jubilee and Olympic celebrations and these were recycled into beautiful dishes which they sold on their stall at the town market. This stall had display boards with evidence of their hard work attached for the public to read, which they did. People still stop me in the town to tell me how much they love the dish they bought and it inspires visitors to their home when they are told it is recycled glass.” The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 27
Winner Richard Jones
Hagbourne Church of England School Nominated by: Julia Sargent
“Richard has kept an open mind to new initiatives within the education sector and adopted those which he believed would benefit the children and staff, as well as the school as a whole,” said Julia Sargent in nominating now retired head teacher, Richard Jones. Investing in his staff and providing an opportunity to update their skills and expertise was always a priority for Richard. Teachers and staff were encouraged to attend courses and training which has improved practice, gained additional qualifications and enhanced career prospects. Support staff have gained NVQ Level 3 and HLTA qualifications. These results have raised teaching standards throughout the school. Prior to his retirement in July this year, Richard took the lead in the delivery of workshops for the National College of School Leadership on sustainability and regularly hosted visits to the school by teachers from all over the country. He also set up several small businesses that saved the
schools project. Since that time these projects have enabled over 100 staff to have experienced an exchange of cultural experiences and education ideas in a foreign country. In terms of becoming a sustainable school, Richard took a unique ‘high-tec’ approach. As school money and in some cases, well as the many practical changes returned a profit. the school adopted (recycling, “Whilst many schools ‘bin’ re-using push taps and light correspondence about sensors) there is an energy competitions and grant awards, monitoring system recording daily Richard could see the benefits to gas, water and electricity the school in making consumption. The results are used applications. The pupils enjoy in science and maths lessons. A taking part in competitions – and small demonstration wind turbine produce excellent work to acts as a power source for a water submit to the awarding bodies. feature and solar panels help to The school has received high heat the covered swimming pool. profile recognition as a result,” Richard’s interest in ICT has led commented Julia. to an 18 year (and ongoing) In 2008, the school was judged relationship with national as ‘outstanding’ and this was a company, RM, testing educational reflection of how Richard refined hardware and software products the staff and pupil mentoring before they reach the marketing system. In 1990, with great stage. Richard took the bold step enthusiasm, Richard applied to of inviting the probation service to become one of the schools to take undertake a two-year project with part in both the ‘Comenius’ offenders to renovate and improve (European) and International the environmental facilities at the
THE LORD JOHN STEVENS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT
school. The project was so successful it now acts as a case study for others to follow. Julia added: “Richard has a passion for involving the community in the children’s learning – which, in turn, engenders and nurtures respect and responsibility in pupils. This is reinforced with a fair and firm discipline policy and its success can be measured when pupils are praised for their behaviour wherever they go.” Having spent 40 years in the education sector, starting as a class teacher in 1972, Richard became head of Hagbourne C of E Primary School in 1989. It was not long before the number of pupils increased to capacity and today there is a waiting list which is testimony to the high regard the school is held in the community. His dedication as a head teacher, colleague and mentor is reflected in the various achievements that the school has recorded in areas such as sport, technology and in creating an eco school. Richard has looked at ways of improving and enhancing the school buildings and grounds over the years. The benefits for the children and staff are apparent both in terms of physical changes (e.g. improvements to staff rooms and library rooms) and also in terms of spiritual wellbeing (e.g. a sensory garden, a tranquillity dome, woodland and wildlife areas). There is also a covered swimming pool with new
changing rooms which have community access at certain times. It has been a priority for Richard to work with all age groups, giving the children a chance to get to know him and for him to get to know all the children in his care. The children Richard worked with were inspired by his enthusiasm and staff are now always prepared to go the extra mile to ensure successful outcomes for pupils. “When I first put in an application nominating Richard Jones for this award, he was due to retire at the end of July (2012).
In the last few weeks he has had his leaving and farewell parties. There is no doubt that the occasions have been tinged with sadness but the positive changes and successes of the school that have happened since he took over as head have been celebrated in full,” said Julia before adding: “He leaves a school where staff and children are happy and feel safe, where children are keen to learn and staff are keen to educate – and all are prepared to face the new challenge of a different head teacher next term.”
The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 29
Winner Abronhill Primary School
‘Fun Friday’ Nominated by: Gillian Hanlon
“We have eight classes and it was agreed by staff that each class would be allocated a four week block for cooking. This would be supported by classroom assistants and two parent helpers,” said Gillian Hanlon in nominating Abronhill Primary School. Lessons were then taught in each class before each session, highlighting safety in the kitchen, food handling and food groups. The children then prepared the food and (on most occasions) took
a sample of their cooking home to their parents. Within the Curriculum for Excellence, the school were looking for ways to join up areas of the curriculum to make learning more meaningful and to teach in a context that children could identify with. Gillian continued: “Using cooking was an excellent vehicle for promoting writing, especially instructions and functional recounts. It supported our maths and science curriculum
in the area of measurement, biological systems and biodiversity and interdependence by growing some basic foodstuff.” Researching the project, teachers spoke with children to assess prior knowledge and their experience of cooking healthily. Children were encouraged to discuss healthy diets and the impact this had on their life. The project then aimed to establish a pattern of wellbeing which the children would take
THE HEALTHY EATING INITIATIVE AWARD
into later life. They also wanted to encourage the children to cook healthily at home and support the work done by parents in promoting healthy eating. In addition to this it was hoped that the project would help children understand the importance of a well balanced diet and this would see them identify healthy options when choosing treats. The time-span of the project was one year which involved the implementation of the project throughout the whole school with 194 pupils taking part. Each pupil was involved with preparing equipment, preparing food and using appropriate methods to cook food. A number of classroom resources were used in the implementation of this project such as smartboards, posters, jotter work and powerpoint presentations. Outside agencies
were also involved with Bartletts donating potatoes and Quality Meat Scotland also took part in demonstrations and cooked beef wraps in some classes. According to Gillian, the aims of the project were met with feedback from children and parents highlighting the success and enjoyment gained from ‘Fun Friday’. “Children were transferring skills gained in school to home cooking activities. Children reported trying new foods. Some children brought samples of their food into school for classmates to try. Some children went on to create their own cookbooks at home and showed these to classmates and teaching staff,” added Gillian. In a review of the academic year, children, parents and staff have expressed a wish to continue with the cooking programme and this is now happening at the school.
Pupils have also expressed an interest in growing the food for some of the activities. Pupils are now participating more in food preparation at home whilst others are trying foods that they would not normally eat. With the whole school already involved in the project, pupils and staff are now keen to apply for grants to help establish a school vegetable garden. As part of the school’s enterprise for the forthcoming year, the Enterprise Committee intend to print a Healthy Eating Cookbook for children. The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 31
Winner
Walthamstow School For Girls ‘Mybnk’ Nominated by: Hugh Marley
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THE COMMITMENT TO SAVING AWARD
Mybnk builds young people’s knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their money effectively and make enterprising choices throughout their lives. At Walthamstow School For Girls, a group of year 9 pupils run their own in-school, online, saving and lending bank. There, they develop a huge array of presentation and organisational skills. The group has helped two year groups (360 students) save and become more financially aware this year. This scheme was repeated with the intake of 180 new year 7 pupils meaning all those who pass through the school will be financially aware. Nominating Mybnk for this award, Hugh Marley said: “At a time when young people were being shown as untrustworthy and irresponsible, Mybnk trusted and invested in them and allowed them to shine.” The bank also holds half-day financial awareness programmes and 180 eleven year-olds completed this in July 2012. The original aims of the project were to raise financial awareness amongst students and help them to cope with and manage the issues around saving and budgeting. The school also wanted to give its ‘bank managers’ the planning, organisational, presentation, ICT and leadership skills needed to run a bank. Training of staff and students
began with one day sessions which were then ongoing throughout the year and repeated with each year group. The ‘loans’ element of the bank provided further training for students in evaluating business plans and issues around granting loans. GCSE enterprise students bid for loans to run their ‘company’. Training and support was then provided throughout the process including producing business plans and enhancing entrepreneurial skills. During the project so far, 18 pupils have helped to run the bank which has engaged 360 students. From those students, 20 year 10 pupils were offered loans. There were other immediate benefits from the project. The project helped spread financial awareness and the benefits of saving across key stage three (540 students). The 20 year 10 pupils who were given loans went on to create business ideas that were evaluated as part of their GCSE in Business and Enterprise. “Year 7 saved nearly £1,200 and many became fully aware of the benefits of saving. Some very shy students gained confidence in themselves and their abilities by rising to the weekly challenges relating to managing a bank, speaking publically and leading each other,” commented Hugh. The success of the project has helped to create a general ‘buzz’ around the school and a desire
to save and find out more about personal finance and careers in this field. The school now has a bank which will impact on every single student over the coming years as they participate and help control the bank themselves as they progress through the school. It has helped to make the pupils understand that they have much to offer and made all those who have participated feel valued. Many schools across England are now seeking to follow the example shown by Walthamstow and are setting up their own similar schemes. There is also an international element with schools in Europe and beyond following their example. This has been helped by the appearance of the school on the Swedish version of the six o’clock news which highlighted the projects success. Hugh added: “Financial awareness has spread through our community, throughout our school and into the homes of our pupils. The idea of trusting and giving them a chance to shine no matter what their educational abilities or how the wider world stereotypes them has been something we are proud of. “Mybnkers will now have a slot in our open evening to highlight the benefits of these activities to around 800 potential new students and their families who will come to research our school as their potential future secondary school.”
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Winner Ruthvenfield Primary School ‘Ruthvenfield Safer Internet Animated Film’ Nominated by: Andrew Clark
This winning project was introduced to Ruthvenfield Primary School as part of a wider theme about ‘Keeping Safe’ with primary 6 and primary 7 pupils. The internet safety subtopic became a main focus as the project developed and interest levels (of teachers and pupils) drew the direction towards the use of social networking sites among primary aged pupils.
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Andrew Clark said: “The main focus of the project was to share an online safety message with as many children as possible. The best way to achieve this was to create an animation about the issues and enter the Perth and Kinross Schools Competition. The film won the competition and has subsequently been shown to over 400 delegates at a ‘GIRFEC’ conference at Perth cinema, to all
newly elected members following the May local government elections and to all P7 pupils at Perth and Kinross at ‘Safetaysiders’.” A need for the specific internet message came from the feedback from pupils during research on social networking sites and the gap in understanding about privacy settings on profile pages and also the potential risks that
THE SCC INTERNET SAFETY PROJECT AWARD pupils may unknowingly be exposing themselves to. Pupils conducted research by surveying the access to the internet and the popular sites used by children at the school. This would then help educate as wide an audience as possible on how to stay safe online. Success of the project was measured on three levels. The first was the post topic assessment measuring the level of learning that took place during the wider theme. The second was the pupil reflection on their security settings on their own profile pages. Finally, the presentation that pupils made to parents and carers during the schools ‘Safer Internet Day’ which outlined the successful learning which had taken place. Winning the Perth and Kinross competition was a further measure of success. Running from January to February this year, the animation project involved 21 pupils in terms of the animation aspect while another 50 children participated in the data collection and survey side of the project. “The project fulfilled the need to learn about how to stay safe online. Twenty per cent of pupils changed their security settings as a result of working on this project. Several commented that they had helped their parents change their security settings at home after informing them of the dangers,” commented Andrew. As well as learning about internet safety, the pupils involved also developed skills in film production and animation. One pupil also developed his software skills and was able to take a lead role in technical aspects of the project. This gave the pupil a noticeable confidence boost and was commented upon during the
self-reflection process. Ruthvenfield Primary has been affected as it is now known throughout the region for the internet safety work that it has produced. This has developed a sense that pupils within the upper stages are ambassadors for internet safety and are capable of sharing a clear message through the school. The product of the project (the film) has been seen by several hundred children and adults. It has been used by the local authority to spread the intended message. This has therefore impacted on the local community
and the wider community of Perth and Kinross. This success means there is a strong possibility the project will be repeated in the future. In terms of computer animation, this aspect will be continually developed with pupils in class. Andrew added: “The legacy of the project lies in the existing pupils sharing their knowledge within our community, the use of the recorded knowledge and understanding from the film being used across the authority and the pride shown by pupils and teachers in coming first in the competition.” The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 35
Winner St Christopher’s Catholic Primary School
‘Children’s University’ Nominated by: David Williams
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THE CONTENDER AM-BOX AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING AFTER SCHOOL/PRE-SCHOOL CLUB Every child who attends St Christopher’s from years 1-6 have the opportunity to take part in at least three Children’s University (CU) Modules each year. All modules take place outside of school hours and staff give up their time for free. Each unit within a module represents an hour’s activity and awards are given at ceremonies held at one of Liverpool’s universities, complete with pupils in cap and gowns. Last year at Liverpool Hope University around 170 children ‘graduated’ having achieved Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards which represented 35, 65 or 100 hours of activity each respectively. The diversity of the projects ranged from ‘Funky Food Club’, dance, drama, Spanish, football and many more. “We are one of the most active schools in the city of Liverpool and are well known locally and beyond for our wide range of extra-curricular activity. The children really appreciate it and it really helps to broaden their horizons and build their selfconfidence,” commented David Williams. In Speke, overall levels of deprivation are amongst the lowest in the country, falling within the bottom two per cent. Raising aspirations and widening horizons have been a high priority at the school for many years. In 2000, the school became part of the Education Action Zone and CU was introduced with the aid of some funding. The original Education Action Zone was set up based on government research into identifying the most deprived
communities in the country. The schools research has led them to constantly seek to provide access for their children to the wider world, beyond Speke, which many of the children would not otherwise see. Although the initial funding has long since dried up, those early seeds have now blossomed and CU is a major part of school life. Having originally aimed to inspire children and widen their horizons, the project has proven to be a massive success. Children are delighted with their achievements through CU and have developed a wide range of interests. Academic success and attendance has improved year on year and there have also been improvements in children’s attitude and behaviour. David added: “Aspirations have been raised overall and children have much wider horizons. Success of teams and individuals in sport has given a feeling of confidence. In the arts, we recently received a special plaque from the Arts Council for England for gaining their prestigious Gold Award three times in a row.” The children are able to take away their ‘CU Passports’ which can be kept and added to during their high school years. It is hoped that these will then be added to CVs when they come to apply for higher education or employment. The Children’s University involved all members of the teaching staff (20) plus a number of learning support assistants, volunteers and mentors. Although some performances and residential visits took up some
school time, the CU was completed predominantly outside of school hours. Each individual module is evaluated by teachers and improvements are made annually. As a result of this process, less popular modules are often swapped for more popular ones. Individually, some modules have achieved great success. Cricket at the school started with no tradition in the area at all. Since then, St Christopher’s have won over 40 trophies, including involvement in the ‘last eight’ of the National Kwik Wicket Competition, with all the other schools being independent schools. Several pupils have gone on to play for regional cricket squads. “Our netball group won the Merseyside Youth Games in the summer (2012) against a very high standard of competition. This module had only been in place for two years,” David said.
The Citizenship Magazine for Schools 37
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The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain in partnership with Community Initiatives Associates helps to educate children on environmental issues by delivering the Barney & Echo Citizenship Project to schools.
Sparky's Big Idea poster set
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Sparky’s Big Idea: Barney Says Let’s Talk about The Environment is the latest title in the range of Barney and Echo educational resources for schools. The book was developed to help teachers and parents introduce primary school children to the topic of the environment in an ageappropriate manner, enabling pupils to understand both the nature of the problems the environment faces and also the importance of sustainability. With the environment under threat, it is incumbent of schools to encourage children to make responsible choices and develop a sustainable lifestyle. Aimed at pupils in key stage 1-2, Sparky’s Big Idea aims to educate children on the importance of protecting the environment and using sustainable energy. Sparky’s Big Idea is the sixth book in the series. Living in a forest, there appears to be an endless supply of wood but as the animals use it up without planting new trees the forest starts to die. Sparky Fox tries to tell everyone to recycle and save energy but nobody will listen until the Treetop Forest
Council announce that they will need to cut down an area of forest to supply wood for the winter. This includes cutting down Echo Squirrel’s home. It’s time for change and with Sparky’s help, Echo starts an Eco Club. The mixture of puzzles and activities that punctuate the narrative then offer them the chance to consider their own thoughts on the issues raised which they can then discuss with others in the group. In addition to the resource itself, all schools will benefit from the Sparky’s Big Idea schools programme pack including colourful and informative posters, a dramatisation of the book and extra lesson plans to be found online on our dedicated website www.barneyecho.co.uk. There are also five other books in the series. The Magic Mirror addresses the dangers of drugs, tobacco and alcohol in a fun but informative way by looking at how a group of friends cope with harmful substances. A Friendship Made tackles issues relating to bullying and vandalism, and examines what life would be like
For more information please go to
www.barneyecho.co.uk To see additional projects that The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain are involved in visit www.policecommunityclubs.org
in a society where people have no respect for each other or the environment. Echo’s New Watch approaches the dangers of knife crime within the social environment of children. Caught in the Web tackles internet safety and The Bad Apples looks at anti-social behaviour. These stories are intended to not only warn children about the dangers that they might be confronted with in everyday life, but also to educate children and their carers on numerous subjects relating to the promotion of life skills. Included with each title is a play based upon the narrative of the book which pupils can use as part of their lesson plan, and posters which convey the message of each resource booklet. As part of promoting the citizenship programme, The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain and Community Initiatives Associates hold instructive conferences at which schools and organisations involved in sponsorship and support of the programme can come together and share ideas.
CITIZENSHIP The Police Community Clubs
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The process made easy Are you a company, nursing home, local authority, teacher, nurse, child minder, sports coach, home tutor, volunteer or one of the thousands of people who need to obtain a CRB Disclosure? Whatever your role, if you or your staff/volunteers have unsupervised contact with children and young people or vulnerable adults – we can help. The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain is a registered body under the Criminal Records Bureau [CRB] and as such can provide all the documentation and support administration to secure Criminal Records Bureau [CRB] Disclosures for you. Our clients are single applicants through to multi-national companies and national governing bodies of sport and we are a leading provider in the UK. All our team are serving or retired police officers and provide a wealth of knowledge when risk-assessing Disclosures on your behalf. All profits from this service support community based projects for children and young people.
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