At Holly Park we have many activities that help us think about the wider world and our global links:
- Language of the Month
- Black History
- Rights Respecting Schools
- Values
- Spanish teaching from Reception to Y6
- Community languages on display
- Displays reflecting the global diversity of our school
- Links to other cultures through the curriculum
- Special curriculum days
- Workshops and visits
- Eco issues
Mrs Tsenti is our Key leader for Equality and Diversity. She is also our subject leader for Global links.
International Day of Peace
We celebrated International Day of Peace at Holly Park in September. Children came to school dressed in white as a symbol of peace and in the classrooms children wrote a message for peace on to a single feather. All of the feathers will be collated together to make a lovely large dove of peace which will be displayed in the main hall.
The Worlds Largest Lesson
At Holly Park, we took part in the World’s Largest Lesson. In September 2015 World Leaders committed to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. 17 goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years: no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, gender equality, clean water, clean energy, economic growth, industry innovation, Fight inequality and injustice, sustainable cities, responsible consumption, climate action peace and justice etc.
To realise these Goals everyone, however young they are, needs to take part. Each class had a lesson to learn about one of the Goals and to encourage them to become the generation that changed the world. This is part of our Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural teaching.
- Year 2 learnt about climate change and renewable energy. Wilf and Cecilia said that the world is getting hotter and the energy is being wasted and ruining the atmosphere. They said that they had learnt that in some parts of the world that poo can be used to make compost and that this is a renewable energy. They learnt a song to go with it.
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Malala Yousafzai Year 3 have been learning about gender equality around the world and discussed some important issues. The children were amazed by the true story of Malala Yousafzai and the difference she has made in the world just by speaking up about what she believed in. The children completed a survey of their local community and then made a poster highlighting the ratio of community influencers and decision makers who are male and female. We discovered that gender equality affects us closer to home than we first predicted.
- Year 4 discussed problems in the world. They looked at water and how some children in some countries around the world don’t have running water and also how the water they drink is not clean and can cause disease. They also thought about countries where people didn’t have enough to eat. They discussed how this didn’t seem fair. They could see how this learning fitted also with our Value of the month – ‘fairness’
- Year 5 the children thought about gender equality. Zoe and Tarlan said that they were also concerned about mental health and how we shouldn’t give up on people with mental health problems. They also said that humans can make a difference to help the earth and be more green. Calum and Dayna found out that 48% of the world population are men and 52% are women. They said that gender equality was not always about fighting for the rights of women, it was also about men too and avoiding stereotypes. They explained that Paul Hollywood had done a lot on the ‘Great British Bake off’ to show that men can bake too!
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Rosa Parks Year 6 have been learning about Gender Equality. Ethan told us that they were discussing in groups ideas for how to spread gender equality across the world. Katie told us that they watched a video showing the story of Malala and how she tried to do something about gender equality in her own country. Year 6 also thought about famous people who had made a difference to gender equality – such as Rosa Parkes. They looked at famous female leaders in the world today. They decided that gender equality in our country has got much better over the last 100 years with more female doctors, headteachers, local MPs and even a female prime minister!
Mr Stewkesbury found that the proportion of women to men in top jobs in Barnet is 33:67
The Global Dimension links very well with our Rights Respecting work:
In 1989, governments across the world promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Convention says what countries must do so that all children grow as healthy as possible, can learn at school, are protected, have their views listened to, and are treated fairly.
Holly Park is a member of North London Schools International Network (NLSIN)
NLSIN – Supporting Global Learning – is a partnership of local authorities and schools across the London region, the majority of whom come from: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Waltham Forest
NLSIN aims to provide specialist support to enable schools to gain access to the maximum benefit from international funding, training and curriculum development opportunities.
Membership is open to Nursery, Primary, Secondary, Special schools and Colleges. NLSIN provides in depth on-line and face to face support and guidance for its member schools in applying for funded international programmes and projects.
At the moment we are trying to arrange some e-twinning with a school in Spain.
Holly Park School serves a community which is diverse in its cultural, social and economic constitution. Children at the school come from different ethnic backgrounds, different religions, different socio-economic backgrounds and speak different languages.
We recognise that this diversity is an asset which we seek to draw on for the benefit of all the children. As a school, we believe that every child and member of staff is of equal value. We are committed to providing equal opportunities for all pupils and staff irrespective of ethnicity, age, gender, class, social circumstance, ability, disability, religion or appearance.
The school has agreed the following principles:
- To provide a secure and welcoming environment where everyone is valued.
- To foster mutual respect and acceptance.
- To help every pupil and member of staff to maximise his/her potential.
- To recognise that every individual has a valuable contribution to make to the life of the school.
- To develop in all a positive self image, self esteem and self confidence.
- To help pupils and members of staff develop the skills and attitudes necessary for the promotion of equal opportunities.
- To provide all children with the broad knowledge and experiences necessary to help them to grow up in a multicultural society.
In accordance with our school ethos, we pledge to respect the equal human rights of all our pupils and to educate them about equality and to respect difference. As a school, we will also respect the equal rights of our staff and other members of the school community and any visitors to the school.
We will promote community cohesion at school, local, national and global levels, comparing our school community to its local and national context and implementing all necessary actions in relation to ethnicity, religion or belief, and socio-economic background.
We have a commitment to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. We aim to ensure that staff are fully engaged in being vigilant about radicalization and extremism; that they overcome professional disbelief that such issues will not happen here and ensure that we work alongside other professional bodies and agencies to ensure that our pupils are safe from harm.
Some key facts about our school:
- Our Free School Meal percentage is now just below the national average at 25.3%.
- We are in the top quintile for the percentage of pupils whose first language is not English (46.7%) compared to the National average of 18.8.
- The school has 67.9% of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds (compared to a national average of 29.7%)
- The majority of our children come from Coppetts Ward, which has above average percentages of adult education and high social class households, but also above average percentages of ethnic minority children and over-crowded households.
- This diversity is reflected in our school community.
The House of Lords – World Voice
Children from Holly Park were specially chosen to sing at the House of Lords at a British Council World Voice event.
The World Voice programme aims to bring an international network of professionals together to ensure all children and young people across the world have access to singing education of the highest quality. There are online resources which classrooms across the globe can use to introduce singing to young people. Children all around the world can learn songs from different countries. The visit was a once in a lifetime experience. We were delighted to meet an ex Holly Parker as our tour guide. The children sang 6 songs – 3 from world voice using 2 different languages and 3 Christmas carols. Theresa Villiers our local MP was in attendance. How often can someone say that they sang in the House of Lords?
KS2 Diversity Workshop – October 2015
As part of our ongoing work on PSHE, Values, British Values and Rights Respecting Schools we booked a company to come in on to run some workshops for all of the classes in KS2.
The workshops looked at diversity and acceptance. During the workshops in the hall, there were drama games and exercises to encourage the pupils to explore issues such as difference, prejudice, understanding and acceptance.
They went on to play an exercise about ‘Fairness’. They looked at the feelings linked to being treated unfairly. The sessions generally ended with a team work game where everyone was looking out for each other and working together to get the desired result. The sessions were fun and engaging whilst at the same time they looked at some very important issues.
Holly Park Primary School 