Allerton Primary School

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Allerton Primary School Year 5
School Linking Project Fair Trade
Performance 25th June 2009
Presented By Meg Henry
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Ive been asked to answer this question How has
the School Link Fair trade Project supported
and affirmed your work on linking within your
school with your community?
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Profile-Allerton Primary, Bradford

• English Additional Language now 40.7
• ( 28.5 in 2006)
• 23 mobility
• High school deprivation indicator
• We serve 417 pupils from 13 different ethnic
  groups inc. 117 White British, 134 Pakistani, 17
  dual heritage Indian, Bengali, Chinese,
  African, French.

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Our School Journey

• Where we were Autumn 2006
• We had a changing population with high mobility
  in the area.
• We recognised that some parents were not
  confident in connecting with school.
• Maintenance of standards in English and maths a
  continual challenge under performance is a
  constant possibility.
• We had a good base of staff knowledge and real
  understanding of local issues and communities.

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Our experience meant we knew that children
sitting alongside one another every day in a
diverse classroom is a start but it is not
automatic that meaningful positive links will be
made. We accepted that we would need to work
extraordinarily hard and do a lot of talking!
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We held a growing belief that a strategy of
being open and creative would make the difference
to every childs belief in themselves and our
overall achievement. We shared a belief as a
staff team that being open to partnerships would
bring about a transformation and we believed
connecting with parents was the key to it all.
Sharon Lambert, Headteacher
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School Link as part of our journey

• I leapt at the chance to work with the School
  linking project this year to learn from them and
  analyse our journey on cohesion so far.
• Undertook an internal linking project to develop
  and research the ways we worked within our school
  community, leading to a Fair Trade Performance
  for families with dancing, drumming, singing,
  poetry and a quiz at Bradford University Theatre
• Questions we asked through the context of fair
  trade Who am I? Who are we? How can we involve
  our parents? How can we develop deeper
  conversations?

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The missing T-shirt saga!
Identifying features Challenge. Trust. Openness.
Honesty. Maturity. Details matter. Must be a way.
How shall we..?. School Office in the loop and on
board. Explain. Write it down. No-one person is
enough. Humour.
Coming together is the beginning, staying
together is progress and working together is
success. Henry Ford
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The getting everybody to the show saga!
.
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Kate Robinson (Year 5 teacher) sent these text
messages in answers to my question What have we
done right that means Bradley and Shehzar are
friends and that Thomas and Lahraibs mums both
communicate well with us?

• Open mindedness, listening, insistence on the
  best as a culture, valuing everyone in and out of
  school.
• Things are generally carefully crafted at school
  to challenge all and be accessible to all
  including parents.
• Theres a refusal to entertain prejudice but at
  the same time people are treated individually,
  sensitively and appropriately.

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Fair Trade Theme open-ended homework involving
parents.
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First day designing Fair trade dance with Zoobin.
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Small talk and deeper conversations
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Enjoying being creative with the logo.
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Fair Trade turtle from above!
Children should go places, make things, build
things, sing, play, look closely at their world,
meet fascinating people and learn about
themselves. all children deserve a joyful
childhood. Mick Waters Curriculum
Foundation
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Childrens ideas developed for the silk banner
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People EqualWritten by Year 5 Allerton Primary
inspired by People equal by James Berry,
Christopher Corr
OK SONG Take a chance, be the best that you can
be,the futures in your hands, live, learn and
understand.

• One person can be bold.
• Another shivers in the corner cold.
• Yet people equal. Equal.
• Some people question?
• Some people mention.
• Yet people equal. Equal.
• Some people care.
• Some people dont share.
• Yet people equal. Equal.
• Some people are confident and their life is zappy
• Others are nervous and their life is not happy
• Yet people equal. Equal.
• Some people think Man U rule
• Some people think Liverpool are cool
• Yet people equal. Equal

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Features of School Link part of our journey

• School Link CPD day crucial time to plan,
  reflect
• Small talk to deeper conversations
• Intentional but secure mixing of children in
  groups
• All practitioners acted on overall objectives.
• Staff involvement as a team with School Link.

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Features of School Link part of our journey

• Curriculum. Fair Trade was our theme for a term,
  not an add on just for School Link and it
  developed empathy in a way Ive not seen before
• Parental involvement
• Open ended questions and tasks were crucial in
  the whole project and the childrens ideas an
  integral part of planning

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I never knew you could get rid of the houses
Miss. Saima 1988
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Looking backways weve tried to make internal
links.

• Asked ourselves, our community, our children
  specific questions. Talked about our personal and
  professional experiences. Aimed to understand
  what life is really like in our communities.
• Used Artsweek as vehicle for cohesion
• 1st year Identity , 2nd year Achievement,
  3rd year Parental Engagement
• Developed Friends of Allerton Primary School
  Visits to places of worship to meet friends. I
  was born in Pakistan but I call myself a
  Bradfordian. Mushtaq
• Had a budget and time!

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Looking backways weve tried to make internal
links.

• Used photos in displays so the walls said what we
  wanted to say!.
• Opened the school doors before school. Chat!
• Set up a Cohesion Innovation team
• Parents evenings. More talk!
• Used performances and assemblies because parents
  liked to come to them (opportunities to speak
  informally to parents at them.)
• Capitalised on unplanned opportunities (Obama)
• Played to different staff strengths.
• Sought excellent partnerships

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• Thank you