Fwd: ESSA May Newsletter
Matthew Savage
From: ESSA Forum <gemma...@studentvoice.co.uk>
Date: 11-May-2006 14:13
Subject: ESSA May Newsletter
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 May 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
________________________________
CONTENTS
HOT NEWS!
- ESSA/ACT Conference - 30th June 2006
- Education Bill Campaign
- ESSA welcomes Emma Biermann - our new gap year student!
- September Gap Year Position - Closing date this Friday!!!
- Key Stage 3 English consultation
- Thank you to Danielle!
- Congratulations to ESSA Council member Hannah and her school!!!
ESSA @
- Conference - A Good Local School for Every Child - Will the
Education Bill Deliver?
- The Power Enquiry Conference
- North West Governors Conference
- Obessu Conference in Vienna
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU!
- Student Voice Conference 2006
- Student Voice Pilot - Citizens Juries
- Coffee House Challenge
- New feature - have your say!!
- Our Future Plant Competition
- British Council citizenship project
- Confidence in Communication
________________________________
HOT ESSA NEWS!
ESSA/ACT Student Voice Conference 2006
ESSA is delighted to announce that we will be holding a joint
conference with the Association for Citizenship Teaching on the 30th
June 2006. The conference will be held at the Barbican in central
London, and there will be an evening reception at the National
Portrait Gallery. Students and teachers are encouraged to come along
together, to look at how they can promote Student Voice in their
schools. There will be workshops, panel discussions and some fun
activities too!!! Tell your school about this fantastic event!!
For more information and to book a place, go to the conference
website by clicking here
Education Bill Campaign
ESSA has teamed up with the British Youth Council, the Childrens
Rights Alliance England and School Councils UK to campaign for a
statutory right for young people to be involved in decision-making in
their schools. ESSA representatives attended a meeting at the House of
Commons on Tuesday to talk to MP's about the reasons why young people
should have this right.
If you want to get involved in this campaign, and send a letter to
your MP, email emma.b...@studentvoice.co.uk for a letter template.
Remember, the more people who get in touch with their MP's, the more
likely we are to succeed!!!
ESSA welcoms Emma Biermann - our new Gap Year student!!!
ESSA would like to welcome Emma Biermann, who will be working for
ESSA for three months as part of her Gap Year. Before starting with
ESSA, Emma has been travelling and volunteering in Europe and Asia.
"I'm very excited to be working to support school students to get
more involved in ESSA. I think it's really important that students are
given the opportunity to express their opinions on their education and
play an active role in their schools."
September Gap Year Position
Are you taking a gap year next year? Would you like to work for ESSA
full time?
ESSA has a sixth month Gap Year placement available starting in
September. This is a great opportunity which involves delivering
ESSA's training in schools, attending events, meetings etc on ESSA's
behalf, and also helping Helen out in the office with administrative
work such as creating the newsetter and maintaining the web site.
This position is ideal for anyone interested in Student Voice,
Education, Politics, Journalism, Public Relations etc.
The closing date is THIS FRIDAY (12th May 2006), so if you are
interested, and haven't applied yet, get in touch soon!! Please email
ad...@studentvoice.co.uk for more information or to receive an
application form, job description and person specification.
Key Stage 3 English Consultation
ESSA carried out consultations with students across the country to
find out their views on the KS3 English Curriculum. Their views will
now feed into the QCA's review of the curriculum. ESSA would like to
thank students from Greenford High School, Blackheath Bluecoat School,
Hayes Manor School, The Blackpool Student Senate, Coventry Youth
Council, the NCH Childrens' Say Participation Project, Cramlington
High School, St. Thomas More School, and Callington Community College
for their contributions to this consultation.
If you are interested in getting involved in future consultations,
email ad...@studentvoice.co.uk for more information.
Thank you Danielle!!!
ESSA would like to say a massive thank you to Danielle de Bruin who
worked for ESSA for 6 months as part of her gap year. I'm sure that
everyone who met Danielle will agree that she did a fabulous job!
Danielle is now off to Spain for 3 months to learn Spanish, before she
takes her place at Manchester University in October to study Politics
and International Relations. Everyone at ESSA wishes her well in
everything that she does in the future.
Congratulations to ESSA council member Hannah and her school!!
Hannah Couchman, ESSA deputy council member for the West Midlands,
was part of a team from Wolverhampton Girls High School, one of the
Schools Question Time Challenge winning schools. The girls will now
get the opportunity to take part in a real BBC Question Time event
with David Dimbleby, due to be broadcast on 6th July. Log onto
www.bteducation.org for resources to run your own Question Time event.
ESSA @
Conference - A Good Local School for Every Child - Will the Education
Bill Deliver?
ESSA representatives attended this conference, where students,
teachers, parents, head teachers and others came together to discuss
issues of concern with the Education Bill that is currently going
through Parliament.
ESSA's council member Hamish McCallum who gave a speech at the
conference said,
"This conference was looking into the recent Education Bill. I gave a
speech about the problems with the bill from a student perspective,
which are mainly the lack of mention of student voice and student
participation but also on the issues about punishment and junk food.
ESSA also ran a workshop on Student Participation in schools, and I
think that everyone who participated really enjoyed it. Many of the
comments that I received were from people happy to hear from a
student, and many people seemed very supportive of everything I'd been
saying."
To read a report of this conference click here
The Power Inquiry
ESSA attended the Power Inquiry Conference on Saturday May 6th. Key
politicians such as MP Sir Menzies Campbell and MP David Cameron,
along with other speakers, talked about the prospects for democratic
change. They discussed how we could achieve REAL "Power to the
People." This was followed by a question and answer session, giving
the audience the opportunity to ask challenging questions. A wide
variety of issues were covered including lowering the voting age to
16, Citizenship and Participation, and voter apathy. Emma Biermann
said, "It was definitely an interesting and exciting day."
To read more about the Power Inquiry, and to download a copy of their
report Power to the People click here
North West Governors Conference
ESSA was invited to speak at the annual North West Governors
conference on 6th May. ESSA's presentation focussed on how school
governors can work in partnership with students. ESSA brought along
Laura Davies, a year 11 student from Carr Hill High School, who spoke
brilliantly about her experience of being an Associate Governor.
If you would like to share your experiences of getting involved in
your school, click here to go to ESSA's forum click here
OBESSU Conference in Vienna
The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (Obessu)
invited two ESSA council members to a conference in Vienna recently.
Zayna Ali, ESSA East Midlands deputy council member reports.
"Myself and Joseph were invited to go a conference in Vienna on
teaching methods in schools, hosted by OBESSU. This was a fantastic
opportunity to network with other OBESSU members and find out about
how school students were represented in other european countries. Each
day we attended workshops to find out about alternative learning
methods implemented in the Steiner, Montessori and Summerhill schools.
Best of all we actually got a chance to go to schools in Vienna to see
how students actually learnt (some of it involved a mixture of dancing
and tai-chi!). At the end of the event the participants got to look at
which elements of the alternative learning methods we thought should
be put into practise in our own schools. The conference ended with a
disco and it was very sad saying goodbye to people we had gotten to
know very well, all in all a very enjoyable week despite the snow
blizzards!"
Keep an eye on the website for a full report on the conference by
Joseph Ammoun.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOU!...
Student Voice Conference
ESSA would be delighted to meet our members at our annual conference
on 30th June. Teachers have to pay £75 to come along, but they get to
bring 2 students with them for free. We'll even pay up to £10 towards
students travel if you are coming from outside of London!!!!
So, mark Friday 30th June 2006 off in your diaries and log onto the
website to book a place!
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 If you are interested in finding out
more information on this project, or would like to get your school
involved email ad...@studentvoice.co.uk
RSA Coffee House Challenge
The aim of the RSA Coffeehouse Challenge is for young people to
organise and participate in discussions about things they feel
passionate about, coming up with solutions if they can. Discussions
are intended to be very informal and simple in format and groups can
be as small as six people. They can take place in school, an
independent cafe or in a Starbucks store (provided there is a suitable
one available and there is full agreement), in which case Starbucks, a
sponsor of the project, would provide complimentary refreshments. The
project is running from May to July. If projects come out of the
discussions they can be put forward for an award of up to £5,000 to
help make them happen.
An added benefit for young people is that in mid-June the RSA is
arranging for the English Secondary Students Association to lay on
free facilitation training for young participants on a first come
first served basis. This is to take place in Bristol on 12 June and
London on 15 and 16 June, but if demand is sufficient the RSA may be
able to lay on training elsewhere on the other days that week Travel
expenses would be paid by the RSA.
If you would like to know more about the RSA Coffeehouse Challenge
have a look at the following website: www.studentideas.org.uk where
information about the training can also be found.
You can also contact Jacquie Howley on 020 7451 6962 or email
Jacquie...@rsa.org.uk for an information pack or to discuss the
Challenge.
New feature - have your say!!
ESSA would love to know what our members think about certain topics
to do with schools and their education, from now on we will be running
polls and questionnaires in our newsletters. We wil publish our
results on our website. As it is the season of revision, exams and
stress, we thought that it was fitting to run the first questionnaire
on all things to do with exams. So go on, let us know your views!!!!
Click here to try the survey!
Our Future Plant Competition
Our Future Planet is an organisation set up to enable young people to
take more control of their own futures - especially concerning
environmental issues. Check out their website: www.ourfutureplanet.org
and keep your eyes peeled for their new nationwide competition for
secondary school students, asking you to write an article in response
to the question: 'What innovative changes would you make to create a
better school system?'
British Council citizenship project
The British Council has launched a new citizenship project called '1
World 1 Voice'. To find out more information, log onto
www.1world1voice.org or check out their newsletter here Alternatively,
if you would like to access any of the resources produced, please
contact midlan...@britishcouncil.org
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.
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
________________________________
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
___
Find out more about Student Voice @ George Mitchell:
* http://www.thenewspaper.co.uk/home/pg000639.php
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4785538.stm
* http://www.teachers.tv/strandProgramme.do?strandId=6&transmissionProgrammeId=189417
* http://education.independent.co.uk/schools/article345645.ece
* http://www.bteducation.org/awards/casestudy05.ikml?id=1352
* http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/features/article.html?uid=474
* http://www.ldr-magazine.co.uk/viewstory.php?id=328
* http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/search/display.var.530744.0.a_quiet_revolution.php
* http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2148170
* http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=P8&xml=/education/2005/11/09/edclare09.xml
zara khan
cool.
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