Start the day the Feet First Families Way! Schools across Northern Ireland are often dominated by cars at the entrance and making the route to school unsafe. Many schools even have larger car parks than playgrounds. Orangefield Primary School in east Belfast is one such school, so it decided to take part in Sustrans Feet First Families Initiative. Pupils, parents and teachers reclaimed the car park and turned it into a fun, creative place with parklets for kids to enjoy. See what happened and try it at your school! Feet First Families is part of the Active School Travel Programme funded by the Department for Infrastructure and Public Health Agency. Read more at sustrans.org.uk/NIschools
The Parallel Versing Project by Beyond Skin (N.Ireland) and The Music Project (Sri Lanka)
This clip is taken from the workshops held at Mallavi Central College in Mullaitivu under The Parallel Versing project, a new global cultural media exchange initiative linking schools of Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland through music, IT and English. Parallel Versing is a cultural education project through a process of the creation of new music produced from two different global locations for one final composition. This pilot project is conducted by the partner organisations, The Music Project (Sri Lanka) and Beyond Skin (Northern Ireland). This particular clip is showing a student from Mallavi Central College, playing a piece of music to the students of Newtownbreda High School in Ireland via telecon. This is an example of one of the methods used to show, how the students communicated and exchanged their music/cultural experiences.
The Parallel Versing Project is currently working with schools in Kurunegala, Mullaitivu (Sri Lanka) and Belfast( Northern Ireland). This project is supported by the Esufally Family Foundation, and the South Eastern Education Library Broad through CRED funding.
The Music Project aims to build orchestral communities between the children of Kurunegala and Thunukkai, and use music as the link language between two communities who have little contact and interaction. It mobilises through after school clubs and have been in the respective schools for nearly 2 years. musicfoundationsl.com
Beyond Skin has worked with schools projects for over 9 years and has many successes to report. The core area of the organisation has been their work with over 300 schools in deprived areas through the provision of internet radio services through Homely Planet and providing links between schools. The focus has been a voice for creativity and the use of technology to promote links between school children. In addition the organisation reports successes of supporting over 140 musicians to gain paid employment through exposure and promotion of their talent. beyondskin.net,