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Our Setting. Chelmsford, Essex Combined Church of England and Roman Catholic Primary school. 326 Children 12 classes 41 Free School Meals 19 Languages spoken (14% not English) 20 Nationalities. The immediate impact of the conference.
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Our Setting • Chelmsford, Essex • Combined Church of England and Roman Catholic Primary school. • 326 Children • 12 classes • 41 Free School Meals • 19 Languages spoken (14% not English) • 20 Nationalities
The immediate impact of the conference • Becoming very aware of the language we use and the language of others. • Ensuring we are not portraying the single story and encouraging stereotypes. • Looking at the opportunities – perceived and real – for both genders and all races. • Being aware the resources we use and looking for opportunities to resource more widely and internationalise learning. • A greater confidence to approach and discuss ‘difficult’ issues.
Key areas for development • P4C – to take what we had learnt and introduce it as an approach; to discuss a variety of issues and encourage deeper thought and questioning. • Identity - to start to develop and explore the children’s sense of identity. To use P4C and secondary resources as well as activities and discussion.
Finding our base – identity homework • Year 1 - drew and wrote about 3 things that are special and said something about who they are. • Items included: rosary, lehenga, school uniform, christening bracelets, books given as presents, school ties and family members. • Some children found it hard to give reasons but all could select things that were important.
Year 6 – identity boxes • Thought of things that represented their inner and outer self. • The children found it very hard to express their reasons and go deeper. • The activities highlighted that this was an area we wanted to develop.
P4C • We started to use the model practised on the conference and used our partnership to discuss how to adapt it for year 1. • The children, both Year 1 and 6, found it difficult to deepen questioning and posed superficial questions; they needed leading. • Course in January by Jason Buckley for the whole school, refreshed our ideas and encouraged all staff. • With practise the children are now leading sessions more and asking deeper questions to discuss more ‘difficult’ issues.
P4C Observation Year 1 – Amazing Grace • Children were able to take discussions deeper than other sessions. • Concerned about how Grace was treated, thought it was unfair. • Wanted Grace to play Peter Pan so focussed on how they could do this. They wanted her to be as close to the pictures as possible. (Single story) • Discussed discrimination by eye, hair and skin colour. • Children changed ideas and openly discussed issues. • Discussions mainly at a story level.
Year 6 - Amazing Grace • Led the discussions themselves and focussed on the colour of your skin not being a barrier to being able to do whatever you want in life. • Interesting discussions about Martin Luther King, the limitations we all have and discrimination in everyday life against all races. • Some children taken aback by the use of the word ‘black.’ • Gender equality raised as a topic to explore further. • Discussions mainly at everyday level and not linked back to the story.
What is ‘British’? • Activity to sort pictures into what is British and what isn’t? • 40+ photographs • Groups of 5 or 6 children • No right or wrong answers • Encouraged discussion about choices.
Year 1 thoughts and quotes • Thought if they’d seen it or eaten it, it was British. • They struggled with race – but they don’t yet identify their own colour or differentiate between races. • ‘I saw one of those walking past my school’ – what were they talking about? • ‘I seen that down the road’ – Niagra Falls • My Mum dresses like that – lady wearing a Sari – but still didn’t relate to it.
Year 6 thoughts and quotes • ‘The apple isn’t British, it makes me think of America and the Big Apple.’ • ‘That’s Morris dancing,… No it’s not British’ and laughed. • Is tea British? Discussion about where it was grown. • Discussions led by Britain being famous for. • Food – they knew they originated from other countries and classified them as such. • Some groups then applied this to people – supported by some discussions about their own cultural identity.
This group only placed the white people in ‘British’ despite being racially mixed. Children added: rain, pubs, London landmarks, TV, pop stars. One group split children by the clothes they wore rather than skin colour.
The progress made so far • Children are listening to the opinions of others more. • Going deeper in discussions. • Children are thinking and questioning more. • Children are starting to consider their own identity. • Greater confidence in sharing their thoughts. • Year 1 jumping in to evaluate every story we read! • Starting to share our learning with other staff. • Starting to use Global Citizenship criteria to inform PSHCE.
The next steps… • Share our work so far with teaching staff, especially the single story and finding common ground. • Develop our associate teacher work. • Continue to develop identity, expanding to gender and stereotypes in particular. • Start to include other citizenship stands into sessions. • Develop the use of Global Citizenship criteria to inform PSHCE. • Continue to resource activities to support staff in internationalising learning. • Class 2 class?
The Rocky Road! • Christmas – a HUGE event in our school and took a lot of time out of weeks. • Different break and lunchtimes – We haven’t seen each other for informal chats and to spread the gossip! • Release time – difficult to get although we’ve become creative!
Teacher 2 Teacher • Year 1 and Year 6 great year groups to experiment with and can influence the rest! • Good working relationship – non threatening and equally supportive. • Sharing thoughts and ideas. • Talking through perceived difficulties. • An extra pair of ears and hands when starting to run activities and sessions. • Double the enthusiasm!
Final thoughts… We thought we were already internationalising learning with out current projects but this process has opened our eyes further. We are taking internationalising learning wider and deeper to the benefit of all. We are committed to changing the way in which we work and learn.
