Fwd: July mESSAge

[Matthew Savage]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ESSA Forum <gemma...@studentvoice.co.uk>
Date: 26-Jul-2006 15:02
Subject: July mESSAge
To: Matthew Savage <mat...@thesavages.charitydays.co.uk>

Please note this newsletter is in HTML format. If you are unable to read it and would like it in plain text please email: ad...@studentvoice.co.uk

mESSAge

Welcome to the July edition of the ESSA newsletter!! Here's what we've been up to in the last month, and also what's happening in the near future. We welcome your comments and suggestions about the newsletter. Please send them to: ad...@studentvoice.co.uk

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CONTENTS

HOT NEWS!

- ESSA/ACT Conference - a success!
- Education Bill Campaign
- ESSA's first pilot Citizens Jury!
- ESSA involved in European Project
- Promethean and ESSA put it to the vote!
- Results from ESSA's online survey!


ESSA @

- Compass Conference
- North London Schools International Network
- 'Promoting the Student Voice' - an Every Child Matters Conference
- Westminster Education Forum
- National Union of Teachers Secondary Umbrella Group
- Citizenship Foundation - launch of new publication
- BYC and Youthnet RESPECT! launch
- St John Ambulance Youth Assembly



OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU!

- Confidence in Communication Training
- Student Voice Pilot - Citizens Juries
- Have your say on exam structures!
- Informed and Influencial
- Schools Question Time
- NYC Convention

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HOT ESSA NEWS!


ESSA/ACT Student Voice Conference 2006 - a success!

On the 30th June 2006 ESSA held their second annual conference in London along with the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) all about Student Voice . It was an eventful day where students and teachers were attending workshops on topics such as 'Enabling Student Voice', 'Student Leaders' and 'Confidence in Communication skills', as well as taking part in debates with students from all over the country. Students also had the opportunity to try out new and different fun wake-up skills such as juggling and street dance. Thank you to everyone who attended, took part and helped out - it was great to see so many diverse people there, enthusiastic about Student Voice and how to strengthen it, making the event a great success!
It was followed by a relaxed evening reception at the National Portrait Gallery, where there was the opportunity to look around at the art and watch a presentation about the new Schools Programme. Thank you for eveyone's support during the evening too!



Education Bill Campaign Update


ESSA has been teaming up with the British Youth Council (BYC), the Childrens Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) and School Councils UK to campaign for a statutory right for young people to be involved in decision-making in their schools. ESSA attended a meeting last month with other organisations, such as the Campaign for State Education, to talk to a group of Lords about sections of the Education Bill we were concerned about. The Bill is currently at Committee stage in the Lords, (so they are going through the whole Bill and debating it) so all we can do at the moment is hope that our pressure has encouraged some Lords to defend what we have been campaigning for and await the outcome!


First student Citizens Jury - July 2006


ESSA held its first pilot Citizens Jury last week with support from Ipsos Mori (the research company who are famous for their 'Mori polls' [ever heard of them?] to find out the public's views) at Hertswood School in Hertfordshire. Despite it being an incredibly scorching day, it still went well and Hertswood students learnt about Home School Agreements (HSA); what they were (a document agreeing what is expected of students, parents and the school, to do with behaviour, uniform, homework etc); what they were for, looked at examples, looked at their own school draft HSA and made recommendations to the vice-chair of the governors on how to improve it. Hopefully the governors at Hertswood will take the recommendations on board and improve the Home School Agreement! All students involved in the Citizens Jury thought it was a good or very good way of involving students in having their say. When asked why it was a good method of working with students, one student said, "Because the school belongs to the students, otherwise things will be decided by the adults!"
We have some more pilot Citizens Juries coming up in the Autumn term and if you are interested in Citizens Juries, get in touch with ESSA by e-mailing ad...@studentvoice.co.uk for more information!


ESSA involved in European Project!


ESSA is working with OBESSU (Organising Bureau of European Secondary Student Unions) and other individual European secondary student bodies to produce a manual. The main idea behind this publication is to help students to build up school student structures at school, regional or national levels. It will also give new ideas and improve the work of existing structures in the different European countries. The publication will be created with the tendency to support democratic processes in society, starting from its basis - the schools. Countries involved alongside England, are France, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. Everyone involved had their first meeting in Macedonia at the beginning of July. The manual will be published in November and ready to use, so if you're interested and maybe want to either set up or improve your school union/council, keep your eyes peeled for more information following soon on the manual! In the meantime, you can log onto here for more information or click here to find out more about the team working on it!


Promethean and ESSA put it to the vote!


ESSA would like to say a big thank you to Promethean, a global leader in interactive learning and assessment, who has recently provided a set of their Activote personal response units for ESSA use. Promethean's Activote is a unique hand-held set of 32 personal response devices - a bit like the gadgets they use on 'Who wants to be a Millionnaire!' It allows pupils to answer questions or vote without the need to raise their hand, thus ensuring that all pupils are actively encouraged to participate in the lessons or consultations. Helen Trivers, National Co-ordinator said, "Activote will enable ESSA to consult with students in a fun and interactive way. We were lucky to be able to use Activote at the ESSA conference and students really enjoyed using the equipment, and we were able to collect valuable data on their opinions. We are extremely grateful to Promethean for their kind support. "


Results from ESSA's online survey - your views on Citizenship lessons!

Thank you to everyone who took part in the ESSA survey on Citizenship lessons and how citizenship should be taught. The results were definitely very interesting!

So results were:
Around 56% of you felt that Citizenship should be taught both as a lesson in its own right as well as being incorporated into other lessons.

87% of you thought Citizenship learning was either important or very important - which is excellent and shows just how valuable students think it is!

There was exactly a 50/50 divide between those who thought there should be a Citizenship qualification and those who thought there shouldn't be (37.5% of voters each way) and a quarter of voters were unsure whether there should be one or not.

And unfortunately, more than half of you (56%!!!) didn't think Citizenship was taught very well, with 19% not being taught it all. None of the voters thought Citizenship was taught well! Oh no!

So as we've already said, some very interesting results!! Take a look below in our 'Opportunities for you' section, to get involved in this month's survey on exam structures - the more people voting the merrier!!!


ESSA @


Compass Conference


ESSA attended the Compass Conference on the 17th June. Compass is the democratic left pressure group, whose goal is to debate and develop the ideas for a more equal and democratic world, then campaign and organise to help ensure they become reality. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) ran a seminar at the conference, with a panel including Emma Biermann from ESSA, Steve Sinnott NUT General Secretary and MP John Trickett. The title of the workshop was 'Comprehensive Education? Learning in the 21st Century'. It went really well, with lots of adults with their ears open attending the seminar! And as always, people were really passionate to air their views about education today. Emma spoke specifically about behaviour, democracy in schools and the 14-19 education reforms to name a but a few points. If you're already interested in getting involved in next years conference, click here to access the website for more information.



North London Schools Internatioanl Network - Empowering Pupils


On the 4th July, ESSA joined a day with the North London Schools International Network (NLSIN), to work with young students on developing their pupil participation skills in an English context. The day went well and a mixture of students worked well together to learn about each other, develop their skills on talking to authority and their presentation skills. Students also shared good practice with pre-prepared presentations on exciting international work that they had already been involved in in their schools. This included exchanges with students and schools as far as India and as historic as Greece! After lunch the local Mayor came to look at the artistic exhibition of different international school projects.
To find out more about NLSIN click here or contact the Manager, Anne Roots on nl...@barnet.gov.uk



'Promoting the Student Voice'


ESSA National Co-ordinator spoke at the 'Promoting the Student Voice' conference for teachers in Sefton. Teachers and students came together to give presentations on what they were doing in their schools and to discuss how they can work together.


Westminster Education Forum


ESSA attended the Westminster Education Forum seminar on Building Schools for the Future. The ESSA representative highlighted the importance of involving students in designing their new school, and gave examples of possible ways of doing this.


National Union of Teachers - Secondary Umbrella Group


The NUT Secondary Umbrella Group was formed in 1993 by a consortium of associated and active citizens in secondary education. On 11th July, ESSA Executive Council member, Rajay Naik attended the Summer 2006 meeting to share Essa's view on secondary student participation in secondary education. The issues debated included school councils, the role of student governors, government policy, trust schools and student participation. Following the meeting, Rajay said, "It's fantastic to see that headteachers and those at the centre of secondary education in our country so committed to the involvement of children and young people in shaping their education. This is something we often assume is only pushed by young people themselves. I would encourage others in the sector to explore how they can work with the Umbrella Group, in order as a collective to work together to achieve common aims. People can register their interests themselves. Meetings take place every few months and the group is very keen to hear from more young people." If you are interested in getting involved please email helen....@studentvoice.co.uk


Citizenship Foundation - launch of new publication


ESSA attended the launch of a new guide produced by the Citizenship Foundation. 'Inside Britain: A Guide to the UK Constitution' is aimed specifically at 15-19 year olds and has been designed to raise students' understanding and interest in the UK Constitution. Every secondary school, Sixth Form college, FE college and Pupil Referral Unit will receive one free copy, so have a look out for your school's copy!!


British Youth Council and Youth Net RESPECT! launch


On Tuesday 18th July, the British Youth Council and Youthnet launched their report called 'The Voice Behind the Hood', at the House of Commons. The report lays out young people's views on anti-social behaviour, the media and older people. For more information or to read the report findings, either log onto http://www.byc.org.uk or http://www.youthnet.org.
You can also post messages on the online forum to voice your views on whether you think young people get enough resepct. ESSA has a member on the RESPECT! Young People's Advisory Board, who attended the launch and said, "The research and results for this campaign have been excellent. It just proves that young people are also concerned about anti-social behaviour and shouldn't be demonised by the media in order to sell their press. Negative stories should be balanced with positive stories and young people should be asked more for their opinion on any news item, not just adults."


St John Ambulance Youth Assembly


The weekend just passed (21st-23rd July), saw the first year launch of St John Ambulance Youth Assembly. The national body offering a voice for young people in St John Ambulance held a residential where young representatives from across the country gathered to get information, share their opinions, champion the youth of St John and have lots of fun. ESSA was lucky to take part in the first evening and munch on the bbq goodies as well as deliver a motivational talk to get the young people inspired for the weekend to make the most of it! ESSA wishes the Youth Assembly all the success in the future and thank you for having us there! =)
If you want to find out more about the Youth Assembly log onto http://www.member.sja.org.uk
Or even if you would like to become more involved in St John Ambulance, click here





OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU!...


Confidence in Communication


If you feel that you, or students in your school would benefit from some training in order to get more involved in the life of your school, contact ESSA about our Confidence in Communication training. Here's what some students have said about the training days they participated in:
"I think it was very helpful and I enjoyed it"

"It was very useful. I have become more confident in speaking and my presentation skills have very much improved."

"I liked the ESSA people we were working with. They were really helpful and friendly"

To get your school involved, click here and pass on the relevant information to a teacher who may be interested, or to a school council representative.


Student Voice pilot - Citizens Juries

ESSA has received a grant from the Department for Constitutional Affairs to pilot Citizens Juries in Schools. Citizens Juries are a way of involving people from a community in decision-making that affects them. This pilot will involve students, as members of their school community, in decisions that affect them. Examples of topics students look at might be changes in school policies, changing the school uniform, or building a new school. ESSA will work with the Participation Team at IpsosMORI to develop materials and resources for students to hold a Citizens Jury in their school. For more information about Citizens Juries click here . And if you are interested in finding out more information on this project, or would like to get your school involved e-mail ad...@studentvoice.co.uk


Have your say - July!!



ESSA would love to know what our members think about certain topics to do with schools and their education. This month we want to find out your opinion on exam structure. We are running a super quick poll with questions about ideas of the new A* grade at A-level and proposals to scrap coursework. Results will be published in the next newsletter. So what do you think about this? We really want to hear your thoughts (it's easy to do)!!!!

Click here to try the survey!


Informed and Influential


On Tuesday 22nd August, the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) will be holding the first of a series of training events called 'Informed and Influential'. This a one-day free course for children and young people (17 and under) who want to get more involved in campaigning/lobbying for children's rights at a national level. The course will cover:

- Children's rights - what they are and who is protecting them?
- Government and Parliament - how it all works
- Tips on being heard and taken seriously by decision makers
- Organisations that are trying to make life better for children and young people

So take a grab at this excellent opportunity - travel and food costs will even be covered! Yay! If you want to get hold of a booking form e-mail cgar...@crae.org.uk


Schools Question Time!


The 2006-2007 schools Question Time registrations will be opening shortly. An online application form will be available to download from the 31st July 2006. The schools Question Time free resources provide information and suggestions on how to run your own schools Question Time event. For more information please email schoolsqu...@bteducation.org. Go on - get your school involved after the summer!
ESSA Council member Hannah Couchman took part in shaping the national Question Time broadcasted on 6th July, which was an excellent experience.


NYC Convention



The National Youth Council Convention is an exciting annual event run by the British Youth Council (BYC). It is a residential training course for young people involved in youth councils and similar bodies. The National Youth Council (NYC) Convention 2006, will take place from 8-10 August 2006 at Southampton Solent University.
This year's daily themes are Volunteering, Democracy and Positive Images of Young People. The NYC Convention is a combination of interactive skills, practice, knowledge based workshops and panel discussions, with young people from youth councils, external organisations and BYC training volunteers delivering fun training sessions.
The cost is �120 per young person (aged under 25 from a BYC member organisation) and �135 per young person (from a none BYC member) and �150 per adult; costs include two nights accommodation and meals.
Click here for a booking form which must be returned and completed with money by the 4th August. So not much time left!!!







ESSA's online forum

We are happy to see some new faces on the forum, and would like to encourage everyone else to get chatting by clicking here ESSA Forum



If you would like more information about anything mentioned in this newsletter, please contact:

Helen Trivers, National Co-ordinator Email: helen....@studentvoice.co.uk 0207 022 1910

Emma Biermann, Student Support Officer Email: emma.b...@studentvoice.co.uk 0207 022 1911

Or write to them at ESSA HQ:

3rd Floor,
Downstream Building
1 London Bridge
London
SE1 9BG

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Emma Biermann
Student Support Officer
ESSA

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Matthew Savage
Assistant Headteacher
Curriculum Leader for English and Media

GEORGE MITCHELL SCHOOL
Farmer Road, Leyton, London E10 5DN
Tel: 020 8539 6198
Email: savage....@gmail.com
Website: www.gmschool.co.uk
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Find out more about Student Voice @ George Mitchell:
* www.muslimyouth.net/guidance.php?a_id=485&id_fk=6&id_fkis=65&id_fkt=149
* www.thenewspaper.co.uk/home/pg000639.php
* news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4785538.stm
* www.teachers.tv/strandProgramme.do?strandId=6&transmissionProgrammeId=189417
* education.independent.co.uk/schools/article345645.ece
* www.bteducation.org/awards/casestudy05.ikml?id=1352
* www.sec-ed.co.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/features/article.html?uid=474
* www.ldr-magazine.co.uk/viewstory.php?id=328
* www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/display.var.530744.0.a_quiet_revolution.php
* www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2148170
* www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=P8&xml=/education/2005/11/09/edclare09.xml