CSV Education Newsletter - Autumn 2007

CSV EDUCATION & ASC LAUNCH NEW CITIZENSHIP TOOLKIT

On 12th September we launched Play Your Part: Improve Your Community at Salesian College, Battersea. This exciting new citizenship toolkit, funded by the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC), was produced in consultation with over 200 students, and co-ordinated by CSV’s Anna Watt.

Young people have their say
The toolkit is designed to introduce young people to the notion of sustainable communities and give them the skills and knowledge to plan, deliver and evaluate an active citizenship project.

Anna worked with secondary school students and teachers, from rural Derbyshire to inner-city London, testing out potential activities. The young people had a say in every aspect of the toolkit from activities and resources right through to design details such as type-faces, text size and colour schemes.

Changing minds - changing places
Active citizenship is an area of the curriculum that teachers agree is difficult to deliver; we hope that the pack will support them in developing new and exciting projects, encourage debate and discussion amongst students. and help them become catalysts for changing communities.

So far the resource has provoked remarkable interest, with 400 toolkits ordered and dispatched..

Next steps
Over the coming months we will be holding three dissemination events in London, Milton Keynes and Blackburn to help those delivering citizenship education to get the most out of ‘Play Your Part’. We will also be collating evaluations from schools and young people with the possibility of revising the toolkit in line with the feedback.

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PEER MENTORING: YOUNG PEOPLE LEAD THE WAY

Mentoring is fast becoming a major part of our work, with a number of tailored programmes providing mentors for young people and training them to mentor others.

CSV Education is part of the two-year National Peer Mentoring Pilot, managed by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (MBF) and funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).

Our staff now work with over 40 schools in the London, South East and South Central regions, providing training for students and giving them the tools to create sustainable peer mentoring projects in the future.

Easing transition
At Walmer Science College in Kent, Y10 students are matched with new Y7 pupils to help them settle in and make the daunting leap from primary to secondary school. The scheme is entirely student-led with two 6th Formers at the helm, supported throughout by CSV staff.

Uptake from the older students has been very encouraging with mentor numbers doubling in the first year alone. For them the scheme offers accredited training and helps towards qualifications such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Many then pass on their skills as they train new mentors.

For the Y7 mentees, the effects are twofold. As one student told us, "It's really helped my reading. I feel I'm ready to move on and I've made new friends, too."

To find out more contact Peter Seaden-Jones at pseadenjones@csv.org.uk.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

CSV Education Training & Services Brochure
We've published this brochure which lists all of the current courses and programmes offered by CSV Education - Peer Mentoring, eMentoring, Conflict Resolution, Student Leadership, Buddying, Managing Volunteers in Schools and so much more.

We have staff with the experience, innovation and qualifications to ensure we provide the best and most beneficial course or programme for all recipients.

Email us at education@csv.org.uk to request one of our printed Training & Services brochures, or you can click here to download the online version (PDF document, 95Kb).

CfBT...
A first year interim evaluation report for the CfBT Active Citizenship Research Project has now been produced. The project is tracking groups of students in Citizenship classes as they move through Years 9 and 10.

There are already some interesting findings, particularly around gender differences in student attitudes to school, learning and "doing Citizenship".

RespectUs...
The first schools have signed up to the RespectUs project in Manchester and we will help to find volunteering opportunities for young people in the upper years of special schools.

The young people will demonstrate their ability to contribute to their communities in a variety of ways. We are working closely with the CSV Media Clubhouse team: one of the volunteering opportunities will give the young people a direct experience of media skills through the Clubhouse.

The project will also link in with other local CSV projects, such as Young Voices and Community Catalysts.

Fitting In...
The Fitting In Project in South Shields has worked very well indeed for the group of Muslim Girls (Apna Ghar) who meet every Friday evening, and they have already achieved some of their milestones. In particular they have developed and printed a cook book, showing recipes of delicious traditional meals.

impetus...
19th September was a busy day for CSV Education’s impetus project in Wales as we held our showcase celebration event at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

Eight projects presented from communities across Wales. These included small Welsh speaking primary schools with anti bullying projects and inner city youth projects with professional dramas on prejudice around asylum seekers. We got good coverage on Welsh-language children's TV as well as in local newspapers.

CSV Education in association with Deutsche Bank
Congratulations to the Deutsche Bank Citizenship in Schools team for gaining a matched funding award from v, the youth volunteering charity, to develop Project Team Challenge for young people aged 16+ in London schools.

Annual Report ...
CSV has produced its Annual Review 06/07, entitled creating brighter futures. If you would like to order a free copy, please contact us at education@csv.org.uk.

And finally...
CSV Education bids a very fond farewell to colleague Piotr Sadowski who has worked for with us for nearly 5 years. He has done excellent work for us over that time, including co-ordinating and evaluating the Barclays New Futures project, managing the CSV Education office and running CSV Education E-mentoring – often all at once!

He hasn't gone very far mind - he has taken up a role with the CSV European office! We wish him well with his future work.