School Children Design Multicultural Calendar for New Year
Tuesday 20 November 2007: Schoolfriend etc, the only national charitable provider of childcare in schools across the UK, has produced a multicultural calendar with help from children attending Schoolfriend Clubs across the country. The charity launched the educational challenge in a bid to raise awareness of, and an interest in significant multicultural days and festivals that take place throughout the year. The initiative also helped to develop creative skills including arts and crafts, design, drama and photography. All money raised through the sale of the calendars will go towards the purchase of equipment and resources focusing on multiculturalism for Schoolfriend Clubs.
Children at the Schoolfriend Clubs were encouraged to celebrate their chosen multicultural event in a variety of different ways including trying new food, engaging in new activities relating to it, creating artistic designs and costumes portraying it and finally celebrating it in the form of a mini festival. All Schoolfriend Clubs involved submitted photographs of their creative interpretations for inclusion in the '2008 Schoolfriend Multicultural Calendar'. The photographs chosen to feature in the calendar portray the most unique interpretations of the multicultural event. A certificate was awarded to those clubs whose work was included in the calendar.
Each month of the calendar is represented by a different multicultural event including International Women's Day, the Jewish New Year, Black History Month, the Chinese New Year, Christmas, Islamic New Year, Turkish Children's Day, The Hindu festival of Rakhi (Brother, Sister festival) and Midsummer's Day (celebrated in Northern European countries).
Phoebe Swan, Arts Coordinator for Schoolfriend etc, who directed the
project, commented:
"The initiative was born out of the idea that children are not exposed
enough to the rich diversity of wonderful celebrations throughout the word
whether religious, cultural or commemorative. Children attending our clubs
are from many different religions and cultures and we felt that they should
not only learn about diverse multicultural events, but experience them
through art, dance, food, drama, photography, singing, role-play and
happiness! Our unique calendar captures the best of these celebrations and
we hope to raise enough funds through the sale of them to buy resources so
we can continue in our multicultural explorations."
Sarah, Age 9, who attends the Schoolfriend Club at St Patrick's Catholic
Primary School in Romford, Essex, commented:
"We have had a great time learning about the interesting Hindu festival of
Rakhi which celebrates the bond between brother and sister. It is the first
time we have learnt about this festival and celebrating it through art work
and fun activities made it really special. We created different types of
friendship bracelets to mark the day. I am excited to see the final calendar
which we hope to sell to our friends to raise money for our club."
-ENDS-
NOTES TO EDITORS:
• Schoolfriend etc provides high quality, affordable childcare in schools across the UK. It has been running after-school, breakfast and holiday clubs since 2003 and is now the largest charitable provider of childcare in the country.
• It is currently working with 2000 primary schools either in existing or soon-to-open clubs and operates in 92 out of the 150 local authorities.
• Schoolfriend etc was founded in 2002 by Amanda and Stephen Argent. Their vision was to utilise school facilities after 3.30pm by opening up schools to working parents and their children. From the outset, Schoolfriend etc was designed to make a positive impact on both children's lives and the local community.
• Schoolfriend Clubs assist schools in fulfilling the Government's Extended Schools Agenda - by 2010 every school needs to provide care from 8am to 6pm - and the Every Child Matters programme by offering out of school provision on school premises without the burden of the schools having any additional cost or administration.
• Schoolfriend Clubs are fully approved by Ofsted and have a high adult to child ratio that allows staff to spend a lot of individual time with each child.
