“My School, My Community, Our Values”

Thursday, 23^rd June 2011

Gloucester Schools Partnership held its 3^rd child led conference on the theme: ‘My School, My Community, Our Values’ at the University of Gloucestershire, Oxstalls Campus. The event was again a huge success with 27 GSP Schools and 205 pupils taking part.

Pupil Steering Group

This year saw the return of a Pupil Steering Group to assist in co-ordinating the event. Representatives from Dinglewell Junior, Finlay, Kingsway, The Milestone and Widden schools met on a monthly basis in each other’s settings to discuss ideas as well as show the pupils round their own school. The children found this ‘exciting and interesting’ particularly meeting Ian Mean. This experience proved to be life changing for these pupils as their confidence grew and they were able to see their ideas come to fruition. They decided on the workshops, the introductory video and the questions for the GSP Charter.

The Day’s Events

The day began in the lecture theatre where the Pupil Steering Group introduced the guest speaker Shirley Bennett who shared with the children what school was like during the war. They also took the children on a tour of their schools and presented their interview with Ian Mean (Editor in Chief of the Citizen) through the medium of film. Pupils commented how they found the video’s enjoyable as it was good to see other schools and to learn about what it takes to become a journalist.

Similar to previous years, pupils from every school then gave a presentation to others on how they felt their school was involved in the community. The children’s creativity was evident in the use of power point presentations, music, artefacts as well as costumes to name a few. The children shared how they enjoyed this part of the day as they were able to gain ideas from other schools in order to improve their own. It also helped the children to appreciate the exciting things that already take place within their own community.

One of the children’s most memorable moments was the balloon launch after lunch. The children were asked to make a wish for the future before releasing their balloon into the sky. This has become a symbolic representation of the hopes and aspirations we want our children to acquire for their own futures.

Undoubtedly, the part of the day the children are enthused by the most is the unique workshops. Children were seen this year taking part in: taiko drumming, a signing choir, fencing, first aid, futsal, cheer leading and a science rocket workshop to name a few. They shared how they enjoyed choosing their workshop (even if they didn’t get their first choice!), meeting children from other schools as well as the activity itself. For some children it would be the first time they will have tried out a new skill.

The day culminated with a talk from Roger Head (the owner of Highnam Court) who shared about his personal struggles at school before he recognised the importance of hard work and having a dream to pursue. The Pupil Steering Group then presented Ian Mean with the GSP ‘Values’ Charter which had been compiled using the feedback provided from every school represented. Ian then summed up the day’s events sharing that he would like schools to contact him regarding writing for the newspaper as he feels it is important for children’s values to be presented in a positive way.

‘My School, My Community, Our Values’

 To sum up the day probably best comes from comments made by people in the community itself. The Workshop leaders as well as staff from the university couldn’t thank us enough for being invited to take part in this event and commented on the positive attitudes of the children and how they had learnt a lot from them. This is what this event is all about – giving the children a platform to share their experiences and teach us adults about the future of education!