Kwame. Danielle and Dorcas	Headteacher Iris & Dorcas GD Consultant from Northamptonshire.	Paul Warwick, Richard Johnson and Dorcas Adusei

Global Dimension Network Meeting

On 19 May 20 teachers, Local Authority officers and NGO staff met at the Northamptonshire Global Dimension Network Meeting to share progress on a wide variety of projects and to network.

As the agenda shows the afternoon included:-

• an interactive exercise linking Community Cohesion with the Global Dimension
• feedback from a student involved in the Commonwealth Youth Summit
• a series of reports from schools about their involvement in the School Linking Network
• an input about the representation of Arabic cultures in the media
• a discussion about changes in DFID funding, and their possible implications for the Locality Group

Commonwealth Youth Summit

On 12th March (Commonwealth Day) Rohini Corfield joined Paul Burnett, the Director of Childrens' Services at Northamptonshire County Council and other guests at the Commonwealth Youth Summit at Caroline Chisolm school.

130 young people, from 8 secondary schools and Supplementary schools worked with staff from the Royal Commonwealth Society over 2 days to produce a Communique about the challenges facing the Commonwealth.

This was presented to the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who encouraged all students to take every opportunity to extend their learning so that they could be active global citizens having influence on international issues like climate change, poverty and diversity.

Paul Burnett then gave a speech about the importance of interactive learning events like the Youth Summit and thanked all who had been involved, including EMNGPS who had provided some funding to the Northamptonshire Locality Group.

The young people involved had enjoyed the event, and would share their learning with friends at their schools.

9 further Youth Summits are planned to take place around the country.

Northamptonshire Global Dimension Network

On 27 January 15 teachers, Local Authority advisers, Consultants and staff from NGOs met at the GDN for an inspirational afternoon.

Richard Johnson summarised activities at the Uganda-UK Schools Linking Partnership which included two 6th form conferences involving Ugandan and Northamptonshire secondary schools where students discussed Sustainable Development, Global Citizenship, Conflict Resolution and Social Enterprise. The conferences also led to photographic projects, creative writing, video diaries and science experiments.Such visits enabled young people to develop a balanced view of Uganda,not one based on negative media stereotypes

Chris Scanlon, Headteacher at Bliss Charity School then shared the school's Comenius Project which involved links with schools in Sweden, France, Romania and Turkey - download case study here. The school is now developing another Comenius Project with a school in Greece based on the Olympic Games. The school was also named International School Award School of the year - many Congratulations!

Dorcas Adusei then gave an update of the Schools Linking Project in which 18 schools are linked with other County schools to explore community cohesion themes like What is Britishness? and the History of Settlement. 18 more schools have registered an interest in this project.

Secondary teachers from 6 Northamptonshire schools who had been on a TIPD (Teachers International Professional Development) visit to Hanoi, Vietnam shared their insights about Teaching and Learning strategies. As a result of the reflection inspired by the visit, teachers have now set up pen-pal links between students , written Vietnam into curriculum modules and done assemblies based on their visit.

Another group of teachers fed back on their TIPD visit to Saudi Arabia, the first ever visit of teachers funded by the British Council there. Teachers visited private schools, talked with Saudi Arabian teachers and visited the Ministry of Women. A Curriculum pack about Saudi Arabia is being produced which will be shared with all Northamptonshie schools through the Learning platform.

Another group of teachers reported back from their TIPD visit to Adelaide, Australia to learn how students with Visual Impairments (VI) are supported. As a result of the visit, Northamptonshire LA is now developing an Extended Core Curriculum for VI learners which includes IT skills, school skills and independence skills - download case study here.

Danielle Stone gave an overview of Connecting Classrooms clusters with Vietnam and Java, Ethiopia and Nigeria, Tunisia and India. Northamptonshire had included Special Schools and Supplementary schools ( eg, Gujerati School) which attracted praise from the British Council.

Nikki Taylor then informed the group aboutthe Youth Summits that the LA would be hosting on 11-12 March on behalf of the Royal Commonwealth Society. These would involve 130 pupils and be based on the format of a CHOGM (Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting) with the young people producing a Communique, and producing materials which would be shared via the Learning Platform.

Nicky Booth gave updates on the number of schools with International School Award recoginition - 169 at various levels and 19 with Full ISAs.

Rohini Corfield updated the group about DFID funding changes, DEA Global Learning Charter and the EMNGPS conference 29 - 30 April 2010.

The meeting had provided a superb opportunity to share learning about the mainstreaming of the Global dimension, and to discuss how to capture outcomes.

European Union Awareness

On 4 December Rohini Corfield joined colleagues from Northamptonshire at the European Union Awareness event in Corby. There were 70 students from 8 schools and colleges across Northamptonshire, and a range of external speakers - click here to see the programme.

Workshops in the morning incuded:-

• Journey through Europe
• Citizenship
• Cultural Diversity - What to do about racism
• Actions for Youth

The afternoon workshops enabled students to interview a panel of experts on a range of topics in preparation for the EU debate held at the County Council Chamber on 22 January.
Topics included:-

• The Euro - to join or not?
• Enlargement
• Environment - Is Climate Change a real threat?
• Lisbon Treaty

The day included the chance for students from different colleges to develop their understanding of the role of MEPs, European instititutions, and to start debating some topical issues - a great way of nurturing active citizenship skills.

Global Dimension Network (GDN) meeting - October 2009

On 7 October Rohini Corfield joined a Head teacher, senior Local Authority adviser and consultant at the Northamptonshire GDN meeting held at Woodnewton Learning Community, near Corby

Items discussed included:-

• The future development of the Northamptonshire Development Education Centre
  
  
• Connecting Classroom Projects in West Africa, the Far East and Saudi Arabia
  
  
• Forthcoming Teachers' International Professional Development visits
  
  
• An update of the Northamptonshire Global Dimension Policy for Children and Young People's Services
  
  
• A regional update including the DFID Building Support for Development Reviews
  
  
• A Woodnewton update - the school has had the Annapurna Dancers and a Maori elder working with pupils and parents; a school link with China is being developed, a Global Dimension Creative Curriculum and training on Thinking Maps is being delivered
  
  
• Membership of the GDN

Global Dimension Network Northamptonshire

On 8th July, nine teachers, a Headteacher, Local Authority staff, educational consultants and NGO staff met at Northamptonshire's locality group meeting to share information including:-

• Uupdate from Nicky Booth about the work currently going on to develop a LA Global Dimension and International Perspectives Policy linking to key educational priorities like School Improvement, Every Child Matters, Community Cohesion, attainment, Personalised Learning etc
• Regional / national update including reports of the EMNGPS conference and annual report, feedback from the DFID Review and White Paper Consultation meetings, signposting to new resources and notification of regional events
• Ffascinating presentation about a recent Teachers International Professional Development ( TIPD) Study visit to Malawi with reflections about learning in different contexts, school linking and active global citizenship
• News of a new Malawi DVD pack for teachers with ideas for cross-curricular learning produced by Alison Buckley and sponsored by The Rotary Club
• School updates about progress with the International School Award, School links, Connecting Classrooms
• Discussion about Commonwealth Clubs
• Update about the work of the Discovery Centre in Uganda, (www.u-ukslp.org) including planned visits by Northamptonshire schools.

Northamptonshire Locality Group Update

On 1 April 2009, four teachers (including a Headteacher) from primary and secondary schools and four advisers from Northamptonshire Local Authority met with Rohini Corfield (EMNGPS Project Manager) at the Northamptonshire Locality Group.

A wide variety of Global Dimension issues were discussed:-

Dorcas sought feedback on the Global Dimension Action Plan for the County. Suggestions made included the importance of gathering qualitative feedback about the impact of Global Dimension (GD) work on learners and teachers and the need to gather evidence illustrating how the GD can help raise attainment.

Rohini gave a regional update , including details of recent DEA publications and DFID Consultation Events - click here to read more.

Dorcas provided an update on the Schools Linking Project which paired 20 Northamptonshire schools. Secondary schools would explore the theme of Conflicts and Conflict Resolution whilst Primary schools would look at the History of Settlement. Both these themes would help inform the debate about What is Britishness?

Schools Update

1. Sheila Holland from Wrenn Secondary School talked about the impact of a Polish Comenius Language Assistant in helping learners and staff learn more about the Polish education system, language and culture.
2. Ellen from Woodnewton Learning Community talked about a planned study visit to Uganda with parents, a Health visitor and Play Development Worker and the experience of hosting Headteachers from Ethiopia and Nigeria
3. Jay from Sir Christopher Secondary School summarised their link with a school in Nepal and involvement in the Asian Dialogues project and e-twinning with Sweden. The school was applying for the International School Award and had developed a module for all Year 11 pupils about Diversity and the GD.
Nikki Taylor then gave an update on the work of the 9 Commonwealth Clubs and reported on the visit to Westminster Abbey of 12 students to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth -an event which The Queen, Prime Minister and many dignitaries from Commonwealth countries attended.

Richard then talked about the impact of UK-Uganda school links and study visits on teachers and students facilitated by the Uganda - UK Schools Linking Partnership.A variety of joint curriculum projects were carried out including a Day in the life photo collection, Sports Coaching, art Work, recipe Book, Environmental Projects, School newsletters, News programmes and Textile projects. see www.u-ukslp.org

Rohini thanked Dorcas for all her GD work and wished her well on maternity leave.

European Awareness Day

On Friday 25 April 2008, 60 Gifted and Talented students from 4 Northamptonshire schools met at the Rushden and Diamonds Conference centre to take part in a range of activities about the European Union, including games like Euro bingo, learning about the role of an MEP and doing research about countries in the EU and then presenting this information.

In the afternoon guests from external organisations like the Police, County Council, NGOs like Cafod and EMNGPS were interviewed about topics like The Euro, Enlargement, Tackling World Poverty and the Environment. All the students would be participating in debates about these themes in a month's time.

Feedback from students and their teachers has been that this is an excellent way of learning about the EU in a fun and interactive way.

Further events are planned :-

Friday 28 November at Corby

Friday 23 January at Northampton

Friday 27 March at Kettering

Contact Dorcas for more information dadusei@northamptonshire.gov.uk

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Thinkingpeople is an innovative and dynamic learning consultancy which specialises in cross-cultural competence, valuing diversity and global citizenship. Click here to find out more.

Northamptonshire Locality Group charts progress - March 2008

On 20 March 2008, 11 Local Authority Officers and Teachers from primary and secondary schools met at the Global Dimension Network meeting held at Grendon Hall, in the new Ignatius Sancho Development Education Centre.
Danielle Stone welcomed everyone and then Dorcas Adusei updated the group on the Global Dimension (GD) work she and Kwame Boakye had been doing with schools and young people.

This included:

• training about embedding the GD in primary and secondary schools
• Helping to organise international / Global weeks
• Helping Schools to apply to become Fairtrade Schools
• Supporting Commonwealth Clubs
• Running training and surgeries on the International School Award
• Co-ordinating TIPD (Teachers International Professoional Development) visits
• Developing GD resource packs for schools
• Giving themed assemblies ( about Diversity, Human Rights, Identity etc)
• Sending books and computers to schools in Ghana so that they can maintain a link with Northamptonshire schools
  

Dorcas also summarised the GD action plan for the next year. Key events include:-

• European Awareness Projects for Schools - May to December
• EU Awareness for Teachers and Providers of Education - 9 May (Europe Day)
• Commonwealth Celebration - 10 March]
• Youth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting-1-2 May
• Commonwealth Clubs - throughout the year
• Embedding the GD in the Curriculum - 23 April
• Comenius and ISA Training and Surgery - 18 October
• School Linking and Funding Opportunities - 19 June

Melanie Cadman then updated the group on plans for the DEC and the establishment of an advisory group of NGO and Education partners.

Alison Buckley outlined the contents of the multi media Ghana schools pack with interactive activities for all aspects of the curriculum.

Nicky Booth and Morcea Walker then fed back from a TIPD visit to Poland.

Richard Johnson talked about links with Ugandan schools through The Discovery Centre see www.discoverycentres.org.uk.

Other schools gave an update on their school links (www.opef.org.uk), GD events (eg, Bastille Day event) and support needs

Finally Rohini Corfield gave a regional update covering the EMNGPS AGM, five-year regional strategy and highlighted new documents like the QCA GD curriculum planning guide and DFID's Bringing the World into the Classroom booklet.

Global Dimension Network meeting March 2008 Agenda

This is just a reminder that the next Network meeting at Grendon is on Thursday 20th March. Click here for the agenda.

Northamptonshire celebrates Commonwealth Day

click here for invitation
click here for timetable

The Global Dimension Network includes representatives from Northamptonshire Inspection and Advisory Service, Residential and Outdoor Education, Northamptonshire Children and Families, Northamptonshire Equalities Service, Northamptonshire Study Support. To contact the Global Dimension Network, click here.

• Sharing progress in 2006-7
• Global Dimension
• Global Dimension Network

On 11 October 2007, LA advisers for Study Support, Citizenship / PSHE, Geography, Race Equality and Modern Foreign Languages met with teachers at the group's Global Dimension meeting to discuss:-

County Update

• Kwame explained that 3 working computers had been sent to Africa and outlined the plans for the launch of the Development Education Centre on 13 November which would include speeches, a plaque unveiling and a Fairtrade Exhibition and workshops for schools.
• 40 schools in Northamptonshire were working on the International School Award (ISA) at various stages & an ISA training event was taking place on 18 October.
• There were training courses on the global dimension for primary and secondary schools in November.
• Dorcas was working on producing a Resource pack (photos and CD of practical ideas) for schools on the Global Dimension using Ghana as an example.
• Five Sixth formers attended the Youth CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) in London and representing the interests of the Bahamas and Mozambique.

Professional development feedback

Dorcas and Kwame summarised the training they had attended which would enable them to support global dimension work in schools, including:

• OSDE Open Spaces for Dialogue and Enquiry www.osdemethodology.org.uk
• Fairtrade Schools accreditation
• Introduction to Development Education www.dea.org.uk
• Global Schools Seminar - Leeds DEC

EMNGPS Regional Update of regional conference, DFID Monitoring and Evaluation framework, Regional ESD activity www.rceem.org.uk.

Update of County GD Action Plan including the European Awareness Evaluation Report and Benchmarks for Teachers in Curriculum Planning and Delivery of the Global Dimension in secondary schools.

School Update from Lodge Park school on their various international links and activities for the ISA.

Sharing Progress in 2006-7

• Running Commonwealth Clubs in 7 schools
• Organised a Commonwealth Day celebration
• Facilitated School Links to Africa
• Made artefact boxes of Africa available to schools
• Developed Global Dimension youth work in schools
• Ran European awareness and anti-racism sessions in 12 schools
• Helped organise and run international weeks in schools and Pupil Referral Units

Global Dimension

Two Global Dimension Curriculum Practioners, part-funded by EMNGPS, are helping schools to put the global dimension at the heart of cross-curricular learning and the wider life of the school, as well as encouraging positive action for global change in a locality. Dorcas Adusei and Kwame Boakye offer schools:

• Fifteen-minute information sessions for school governors
• Two-hour training for staff and governors
• One-day in-service training
• 30-minute assemblies
• Contributing to international weeks
• County-wide training
  

These inputs enable students, teachers, governors and parents to:

• critically examine their own values and attitudes
• appreciate the similarities between people everywhere, and learn to value diversity
• understand the global context of their local lives
• develop the skills that will enable them to combat injustice, prejudice and disrimination.
  

For more information, please contact KBoakye@northamptonshire.gov.uk orDAdusei@northamptonshire.gov.uk or visit www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/childrensservices

Global Dimension Network

The Global Dimension Network meets once a term to share good practice and updates from educational study visits. Recent topics have included feedback on TIPD visits, a presentation from Global Learning Communities and the Olympics.

For more information contact dstone@northamptonshire.gov.uk