"Sustainable School - Global School?" was a one day event focusing on the global dimension of DCSF's sustainable school framework. Over 60 delegates from schools and local authorities attended the event, delivered in partnership between OWNNE, North East Strategic Partnership for Sustainable Schools and ATLAS, held at the CastleGate in Newcastle.

 

Dave Smith, Children’s Services Advisor at Government Office NE opened the day followed by a keynote address from David Gardner of the QCA. David’s keynote examined the place of the global dimension and sustainable development in the curriculum. Anne Humble, a Nursery School Headteacher at an NCSL Sustainability Lead School, presented a case study about linking the sustainable and global to the curriculum, campus and community. The day was closed by Mike Tones, a DCSF Champion for Learning Outside the Classroom.

 

The day also included a wide range of practical workshops raising awareness of the sustainable schools framework and generating ideas about what the global dimension could look like in schools.

 

Most of the speakers presentations and workshop presentations are now available below. There are also links at the bottom of this page to the resources and publications that delegates were given to take away.

 

 

      

 

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Download a PDF of David's presentation: part 1 , part 2  

 

Monkchester Road Nursery School features as a case study on the NCSL website and on the TeachingExpertise website. A resume of Anne's presentation will appear here soon.

 

 

For more information about Learning Outside the Classroom visit www.lotc.org.uk or download the manifesto.

 

 

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This interactive workshop will give a brief overview of the DCSF Sustainable Schools Framework and lead into activities for delegates to explore how they can evaluate current practice and plan for future activity which will integrate whole school planning and practice linking issues relating to well-being, community cohesion and sustainability issues.

 

 

Participants will start this workshop by considering what “global” means in terms of “sustainable” and will then think about what they want their pupils to achieve. The workshop will provide practical ideas about how learning could be organised to bring a global dimension to the curriculum. The workshop will finish by looking at some activities to assess the impact that the global dimension has on learners.

 

 

This workshop looks at where campaigning fits into the National Curriculum and what a powerful learning tool it can be for active global citizenship. Using practical activities participants will explore the stages of a campaign from thinking about to planning and participating in action as well as assessing the impact, with a strong emphasis on pupil voice. The workshop will also encourage colleagues to apply their own critical thinking skills to the campaigns that schools are invited to take part in.

 

 

 

This workshop will give participants an opportunity to learn more about UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools Award. This award recognises the achievement of a school community in embedding the values of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in its ethos and curriculum. The unique overarching values framework promoted by this scheme is based on the needs of children to survive and be protected, develop and participate in their global community. A global citizen in a rights respecting school is someone who knows their rights, believes everybody has rights and is committed to working towards a world where everyone can access their rights.

 

 

In this workshop delegates will participate in a concentrated version of the project. The Global Murder Mystery explores the impact of decisions taken by individuals and global institutions on the lives of a family in Ghana. The project is for both primaries and secondaries and explores sustainable development and interdependence in an exciting participatory way.

 

 

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All delegates were given packs to take away with various Sustainable Schools and Global Dimension publications. A list of the contents of the packs and links to the publications are below:

 

 

Learning outside the classroom