World School Council - Current initiatives

House of Commons Speaker's School Council Awards

Students at Builth Wells High School have just entered their exciting and successful Connecting Young People around the world project into the new Speaker's School Council Awards run by Parliament and the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP.

"I think this is such a great project because it enables students from all age ranges and all interests and abilities to make contacts and learn about other cultures and countries around the world. It also helps students to gain confidence through communication." said Year 10 pupil Chris Lally.

Non-teaching staff & World School Council Coordinator, Melinda Kennedy added, "Pupils who don't usually get involved in school projects have actively taken on huge tasks and responsibilities and have suggested many ways in which the project can move forward. It has been a wonderful opportunity to invent exciting, meaningful projects which brings Global Citizenship to life". For more information click onto www.worldschoolcouncil.org.uk

Lycee Prive Chrysalide, Antananarivo, Madagascar

We are currently working with the Chrysalide school to help with their fundraising to buy a plot of land to build a new school. Several BWHS pupils have penfriends and our Co-ordinator, Mrs. Melinda Kennedy and the Headteacher from Chrysalide, Graziella Masindrazama are writing regularly and feeding back information about each others culture to the pupils.

There are several projects underway which we hope will raise enough money to enable us to make a really worthwhile contribution. The first project is to publish a cookery book which contains recipes that use ingredients that are exported from Madagascar. These include vanilla, sugar, coffee, cocoa, rice, bananas, peanuts and cloves. The recipes have been donated by staff and pupils from both schools and BWHS pupils are in the process of completing the final artwork pieces. We are hoping to launch the cookery book at the Fair trade Fashion Show which is to be held in Y Bwyty during Fair trade fortnight.

We have been successful in securing a grant of £750.00 (Seed Fund) from the Gold Star Communities grant scheme that supports Wales-Africa community partnerships. These funds are to be spent on setting up our project to enable us to promote our cause.

One of our first purchases has been a badge maker. We are planning to use this at various events, fairs, etc., to raise money and also promote a birthday badge business.

Our ultimate aim is to host an exchange and arrange our first visit which is currently being planned for Summer 2010.

Shared Interest

Following several meetings with Sally Reith of Shared Interest at various Fair trade events, the WSC decided to open an account with an investment of £100.00.

Shared Interest is a co-operative lending society that aims to reduce poverty in the world by providing fair and just financial services. They work with fair trade businesses all over the world, both producers and buyers, providing credit to help them trade and develop. They have been part of the fair trade movement for 20 years and work extensively with community-based businesses in Africa and other continents to help them make the most of fair trade.

They currently have more than 8,700 members who have invested over £25 million to allow them to make a range of financial services available to fair trade producers and the businesses that buy, market and retail their goods.

Shared Interest is owned and controlled by its membership. Each member has an equal voice and vote, regardless of account size. For more information click on the link www.shared-interest.com

Sally came along to our Winter Fair in December and WSC Chairperson Tom Turner handed over a cheque for £100.00. The following photos record the moment.

Golden Gate English Secondary School, Nepal

All members of the WSC now have one (or more) penpals from Nepal and the Principal, Singa Bahadur Tamang writes regularly to both Tom Turner, Chairman and our Co-ordinator, Mrs. Melinda Kennedy.

The Golden Gate school is in Bhaktapur which is joined with the capital city Kathmandu in the east, just 13 km away. Singa loves teaching and in his free time he works in any social service which requires help in the villages of Nepal.

We do have regular requests from Nepal for more penpals, so if you are interested, please come along to a WSC meeting which takes place every Tuesday lunchtime at 1pm in the Library.

Leeds Pyramid

The WSC has been invited by Steve Ward (the initiator of the Leeds Pyramid project) to be involved with the "Chamber" side of the project. The first phase of the project has been to gain publicity and support. The project has many high-profile supporters including Andry Rajiolina, the President of Madagascar and former First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan.

The next phase of the project is to send a letter out to 1 school in all 258 of the worlds countries and ask them to vote on where they think the structure should be built. It is hoped that this question will engage all of the chosen schools and get them looking at different countries and their environmental/economic problems.The letter we will send will explain the reasons we are trying to build the structure and what we would like them to do. Choosing which schools to ask is proving a challenge in itself and it would be great if your council could help with this part of the project.

For more information click on the link http://www.leedspyramid.com

'Under the Baobab Tree' Conference - 17th October 2009

Tom Turner and Chris Lally took part in the "Under the Baobab Tree" conference for community and civic groups who are interested in partnership links with Africa. A day packed with workshops and opportunities to chat with representatives from the Welsh Assembly Government, British Council, VSO, UKOWLA, WCVA, Oxfam and the Local Government Alliance for International Development proved to be extrememly informative and inspirational.

Ed Howarth, Wales Africa Community Links Development Officer with the Wales Council for Voluntary Action said:

“Tom & Chris gave an inspiring workshop on the role of the World School Council and what it hopes to achieve. The WSC focuses on issues around children's rights, children's health, the environment and international affairs. Their vision is to set up a global council of students who will work together and talk to each other to help tackle some of the challenges that children face around the world.”

At end of the conference, everyone took part in the 'Stand Up Against Poverty' photocall to mark UN World Poverty Day. Over 173 million other people from over 120 countries joined in - a new world record which smashed the record number of 116 million last year!