Education News July 2008
United for longer
Children in Hackney will continue to benefit from exciting reading initiatives thanks to a major cash boost.
More than 60 projects have been delivered this year as part of the Words Unite campaign, funded by Team Hackney, which has now secured an extra £500,000 to encourage pupils and the wider community to enjoy reading.
The work will be delivered by The Learning Trust, which runs Hackney’s education services. Chief Executive, Alan Wood, said: “We are pleased the important work of Words Unite can continue thanks to this additional funding.
“This will certainly help strengthen our partnership with Team Hackney to reach communities and inspire them with words.”
Schools can get up to £1,000 for reading projects. The money will be available through Innovation Funding for Schools applications. Community groups can apply through Words Unite.
Existing Words Unite community groups will also be able to expand and invest in new reading facilities.
Cllr Rita Krishna, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, said: “When you are trying to encourage people to do things differently, it is critical that you convey the right message in an enjoyable way.
“Words Unite is one of the most colourful campaigns that we have had in the borough. So far it has been upbeat and highly visible, and feedback has shown that it is genuinely engaging, especially for children and young people. Above all, it has been fun.”
More information
Visit: www.gethackneyreading.com.
Judges take note of song
Year 10 students from Skinners’ Company’s School for Girls are celebrating after being chosen as finalists in the London Student Awards.
Bernisha Auguste, Yasmin Baker, Alima Begum, Jema Constantinous and Elda Lumona beat tough competition to be shortlisted in the competition’s Music category.
Under the name Eternity, the girls wrote, produced and sang a song called Guns & Crime, targeting young people who may be influenced to get caught up in gang violence.
The awards, held at the London Transport Museum and run in association with BBC London, celebrate the capital’s next generation of writers, scientists, artists and musicians. The girls were congratulated by BBC London presenter, Phil Lavelle, Hollyoaks actress Roxanne McKee, and Minister for London Schools, Andrew Adonis, who said: “Congratulations to the girls on their success. This is a terrific example of the talent and endeavour that exists within London’s state schools.”
The competition is part of the London’s Schools Celebrating Achievement campaign. It covers art, music, drama, creative writing, ICT and science.
Grease gets grimy
Grime lightning is set to strike Hackney as local young people take to the stage in ‘CocoButta: A Grime Musical’.
The play, to be performed at BSix Sixth Form College in Clapton, is loosely based on the popular film Grease and is an urban love story of girls, gangs and high school.
The musical uses street dance and MC-ing to confront issues such as teenage pregnancy, social exclusion and drug and alcohol abuse, focusing on subjects that are of direct relevance to young people’s lives.
The show is devised and performed by a cast from Immediate Theatre’s Interactions programme, a pioneering and highly successful arts project that has been operating in Hackney for seven years.
It offers local dramabased arts opportunities for excluded and hard-to-reach young people, aged 13 to 19, and signposts them to positive destinations in education, employment and training.
More information
Cocabutta will premiere at BSix College on 25 and 26 July. Visit: www.immediate-theatre.com for more details.
Confucious? They were
Children from nine Hackney primary schools took centre stage in an opera to mark the start of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and herald Hackney’s role in the 2012 London Games.
Confucius Says, which premiered at the Hackney Empire, is based on Chinese myths and legends.
Set against the grandeur of The Great Wall, the opera pits the wits of Mother Goddess against the spirits of Water and Fire to balance her recipe for the human soul.
The performances on 3 and 4 July were the culmination of a year-long project in which 3,000 children – including those from Berger, Daubeney, Lauriston, Morningside and Orchard primary schools, St Dominic’s, Ickburgh and Downsview Special Educational Needs Schools and Wentworth Nursery School – worked with Hackney Music Development Trust to create the new opera.
The children were involved in the development of the project, which incorporated cross curricular work, art and design and creative workshops, as well as the construction of a stunning terracotta army.
The 300 students appeared alongside Chinese actress, dancer, singer and zheng player, MeiMei in a visually spectacular evening of entertainment that included talking shoes, dancing leopards, a passing dragon, disgruntled hungry ghosts and battling cricket warriors.
Word famous authors
Writing by young people in Hackney has been brought together in a book celebrating a project designed to get the borough reading.
Around 10,000 copies of Our Voice – Words from Hackney will hit the borough this month. The book, a joint project by The Learning Trust and law firm Linklaters, was launched at the Words Unite conference at Queen Mary University of London, E1 on 1 July. The campaign is funded by Team Hackney.
The Learning Trust Chief Executive, Alan Wood, said: “The book showcases written and visual work created by Hackney pupils at a number of Words Unite events. We hope Our Voice - Words from Hackney will encourage children to have fun with reading, writing and drawing.”
The book is being given to thousands of children and being delivered to a diverse range of high-profile figures including crime writer Ruth Rendell and former Leader of the House of Lords, Baroness Amos.
It will also travel the world to international schools and be part of the Book Crossing scheme, which helps books pass from reader to reader.
Copies can be found in parks, cafes and the Hackney Museum.
More information
If you find a copy visit: www.bookcrossing.com and trace its journey.
Count the prizes
Pupils battled it out in the final for Hackney’s Year Six mathematics competition.
The 36 finalists worked in teams of three, going head-to-head in the bid to be crowned champions.
Millfields Community School emerged victorious followed by Berger Primary School and Springfield Community.
The competition was split into two halves, starting with individual questions in a maths relay followed by a team problem-solving round. The annual competition saw 38 entries from Hackney primaries.
The Millfields’ ‘mathmagicians’ won Asus Eee PCs, the Berger ‘Number Heroes’ received Nintendo DSs and the team from Springfield Community School were awarded a range of electronic maths games.
Sine Brown, Learning Trust Teaching and Learning Consultant said:“This encourages our pupils to get involved with maths and develop a skillset for life.”
“This is our second year running this competition, which recognises some of the gifted mathematicians we have in Hackney."
Page updated: 5 Aug 2008