Global Education Leicester-shire Event

Author: James Black
E-mail: jb23black@msn.com

On Tuesday June 29th the resources area of Southfields Library played host to a busy day of events organised by GELS, (Global Education Leicester-shire,) the event involved children from four schools; Whitehall Primary, Castle Rock High School, Rushey Mead Secondary and Brocks Hill Primary who came together to celebrate their achievements in gaining a better understanding of global perspectives and the cultural diversity that can found within their own city of Leicester.

Global Education Leicester-shire is an organisation which exists to support and enable schools to recognise value and enact global perspectives as a core element of the educational entitlement of young people throughout the curriculum. GELS is made up of teachers and representatives from a range of providers operating across the city and county of Leicestershire.

The recent bad news that Department for International Development funding will be withdrawn as of 31st August of this year did not deter the organisers  from doing all they could to make the event successful, the space within the library is available free of charge and the Leicester Masaya Link Group (a charitable organisation which contributes to the alleviation of poverty of in the Nicaraguan city of Masaya as well as running a programme of awareness raising activities,) continues to offer financial support for GELS.

The event began with presentation by the pupils of Whitehall Primary with their Food for Thought project which involved Years 5 and 6. The children undertook a range of activities to gain an insight into how the food which we often take for granted finds its way to our dinner plates this included a trip to the University of Leicester’s Botanic Gardens to discover a world-wide range of crop plants. With the aid of Leicester Masaya Link Group the pupils focused on Nicaraguan cuisine and culture making Central American ‘tortillas’ fruit juices, herbal medicines and crafts.

Whitehall Primary has Fairtrade Status meaning that the school tries to use Fairtrade products, i.e. products which ensure that farmers and producer organisations get a fair price for their products to help them build a stable future, where ever possible.  The school is also committed to educating the pupils about the inequalities of global trade and to spread the message of Fairtrade. This commitment was carried through as the children told the audience of the meagre pay which the farmers of Masaya, (the Nicaraguan city that is twinned with Leicester,) receive for their goods. The pupils at Whitehall sang 2 songs that illustrated the situation for the farmers and the importance of fair trade.
The event got even livelier when the students at Castle Rock High School entertained the audience with a Bhangra/Hip-hop dance fusion with the girls dressed in traditional Indian saris.

After a short break for the lunch students of Rushey Mead School told of their International School Status Award which recognises all of their international work. This included a 10 day trip to India for 4 students and 2 members of staff in which they explored the different culture and way of life of the students at an Indian school. Later this year Rushey Mead hopes to be able to return the hospitality they experienced by inviting Indian students to attend their school. During International Education Week the pupils at Rushey Mead focused on its ethnic diversity: many of the children that attend the school are multilingual. The list of languages known include English, Turkish, Hindi, Somali, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Urdu.

Finally Brocks Hill School gave a presentation relating to their work with a disadvantaged school in Tugela South Africa. In a joint effort both schools worked together to produce and sell a range of jewellery to raise funds to Tugela’s under resourced library. To get the ball rolling GELS donated money for the materials for the South African children to design and make the jewellery. Once it had been shipped back to the UK the students at Brocks Hill worked on the packaging and marketing of the items drawing attention to their charitable purpose, so far the project has raised over £500.

To close the event Claire Plumb one of the joint-coordinators of GELS discussed the importance of the work each school had been doing with the children. There was consensus feeling that by gaining a better understanding of the different cultural identities found in their own communities would lead to a more harmonious environment for all and that knowledge of globalisation and issues such as fair trade aids our working relationship with countries within the developing world.

The event was attended by the Lord Mayor of Leicester Colin Hall, the Mayoress Miss Eleanor S. Davidson and vice-president of Leicestershire County Council Jackie Dickinson. The event was also attended by George Ballentyne the Equality and Diversity Officer the Leicester Council of Faiths. Please click below to read his blog.

http://equalitydiversityofficer.blogspot.com/

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