Millions of young people across the UK are set to benefit from a unique schools’ programme that puts creativity and collaboration at the heart of learning based on real-world examples.

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is launching the programme designed to inspire young people, aged 4 to 19, with its creative projects showcasing collaborations across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

The UNBOXED projects involve hundreds of events and activities across the UK and online, and cover a range of ideas, including space and science, the environment, growing and sustainability, and history and community. From a bio-diverse forest in a city centre to a North Sea offshore platform transformed into a giant artwork, schools can experience first-hand these creative successes when engineering and design, scientific research and technological innovation, including AR and artistic work, come together.

Designed by educators, teachers, technicians and artists with a wealth of experience in STEAM, this free learning programme from UNBOXED includes engaging and fun lesson plans, worksheets and presentations to stimulate young people’s creative thinking, encourage global citizenship and develop the skills they will need for the future of work. The resources are aligned to the curriculum across all home nations and suitable for enrichment and personal development. The programme is entirely flexible and offers a complete blend of class-based, online, real-world and location-based learning.

Resources currently available are linked to About Us, an immersive journey through 13.8 billion years of our history from the Big Bang to the present day; Our Place in Space, designed by renowned artist and writer Oliver Jeffers, which recreates the solar system as a 10-kilometre trail here on earth and Dreamachine, an artwork you ‘see’ with your eyes closed, which explores the human mind, as part of a massive research project into human perception.

Future resources will be based on StoryTrails, one of the biggest people’s history projects ever undertaken; Dandelion, a Scotland-wide growing project that reimagines the harvest festival for the 21st century; Green Space Dark Skies, which considers the environment and the UK’s beautiful landscapes; PoliNations, which is inspired by the fact that almost 80 per cent of the UK’s plant life originates from overseas; GALWAD: A story from our future, which projects the population into 2052, and SEE MONSTER, a feat of engineering and design that transforms a decommissioned off-shore North Sea platform into a space to playfully explore reflect the great British weather, reuse and sustainability.

According to a recent report from the Policy & Evidence Centre ”The promotion of creativity in educational settings can help young people build entrepreneurial skills and improve their future employability”. The UNBOXED Learning Programme recognises the importance for teachers to provide future skills-based and real-world learning to the classroom and seeks to reinvigorate creativity in every classroom in the UK. It believes creativity – our creativity – has the power to change the world.

Bhav Patel, Year 5 Teacher at West Hill Primary School, Staffordshire, said: “The resources we had from About Us were brilliant. They give children the ability to combine their creativity and science knowledge, through writing a poem based on space. It was so popular we had children asking to stay in rather than go out and play. The free resources are perfect for any teacher to just pick up and build into their lesson planning to increase engagement in the classroom and provide an exciting learning experience.”

UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK is the biggest and most ambitious creative programme ever presented on these shores. It is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK, and is co-commissioned with Belfast City Council, EventScotland and Creative Wales.

Explore the free resources and join the UNBOXED Learning Programme today: unboxed2022.uk/learning-programme

Children and young people will be able to take part in the debates in school through the Smart School Councils’ Big Debate Club, a model which provides teachers with a range of free classroom and online activities.

The debates will engage students of all ages and abilities with questions and topics about the different elements of the restoration and renewal programme, enabling children to learn more about the Palace of Westminster and express their opinions and perspectives on the importance of the project.

Sarah Johnson, CEO, Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body said: “As we get on with the job of developing the plan to restore the iconic Houses of Parliament, it is important to remember that children and young people are the future custodians of this historic building. I am delighted that we are working with the Smart School Councils charity to hear the views of young people about the restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament.”

Schools will be able to upload their responses on a range of aspects of the restoration to the Big Debate Club website and these views will be used to inform the detailed and costed restoration plan which is being developed by the Restoration and Renewal Programme.

A further two Big Debate Club questions exploring the restoration of Parliament in relation to sustainability and accessibility will take place in June 2021. There will be a future series of activities later in 2021.

Schools that sign up to the Big Debate Club will also be provided free continued professional development (CPD) webinars giving an additional layer of support to help teachers to facilitate meaningful classroom discussions on the topic of Restoration and Renewal.

These activities are part of a range of work planned to engage the public across the UK with the Restoration and Renewal Programme.

Schools can participate in the debates for free by visiting https://bigdebateclub.com/

On this new project students will help to uncover more about the life of Charlie Hutchison, the first black British volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. Charlie had a fascinating life which reflects many wider themes in British history and politics; these include the history of anti-fascist movements and working-class political radicalism in East London; racial identity in the 20th century; black involvement in the World Wars.

All the sessions on the new project will be led by senior Oxford University professors and PhD students delivering lectures on topics related to the life of Charlie Hutchison but reflecting on its wider significance for modern Britain and its relationship with Africa.

What is known of Charlie? Charlie Hutchison was born in Oxfordshire 1918 and died in 1993. His father was from the Gold Coast (Ghana) in West Africa and his mother was an English woman. He was the fourth of five children of this marriage. In 1936, when he was 17 Charlie travelled to Spain to join the International Brigade (IB) which fought on the side of the Republic against General Franco’s Fascist Army. Shortly after he returned to England WWII broke out and he joined the British Army in 1940 and served until 1946.

Until recently little has been known about Charlie apart from a small file held within the Comintern archives (communist international) in Moscow, as details of his time in Spain remained in the public domain.

Thanks to research undertaken on the last project by NewVIc students and staff Carina and Alan in collaboration with the Marx Memorial Library in London, more has been found out about Hutchison. First a photo of him was discovered, and then contact was made with his family. NewVIc students were invited to a special event to discuss their findings and present to seventeen members of Charlie Hutchison’s family. Prior to this project he was known only as the only black British volunteer in the International Brigade that fought against Fascism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939.

The innovative programme is set to commence in March 2021 and is designed for any students interested in modern history, politics, the history of their local area, or exploring racial identity. It will also enable students to develop their independent research and critical thinking skills, conduct archival research with Marx Memorial Library and provide an opportunity to prepare students for applying to Oxford or other Russell Group universities.

Noah Enahoro, former project participant and Honours and A Level student, said: “I was honoured to be part of this project, Charlie Hutchison’s story would not have been told if we had not carried out this research into him, and discovered all that he has done throughout his life. I am so glad that we were able to do this, I feel inspired in terms of how Charlie carried himself in what he did and achieved in times of stigma in Britain, he used his experiences of oppression to motivate himself to fight against that in the Spanish Civil War. His story is small yet it has a huge impact because it highlights that there were others fighting besides him whose stories have not been told. This story highlights that there were people of other races in big movements but not as represented to us when we study history in the national curriculum pre-university. I really enjoyed telling his story to his family and reminding them of how great he was and to share this with the wider public.”

Alan Kunna, Programme Team Manager and Teacher of History, added: “This is a fantastic and exciting project for students to get involved in on our super curricular programme. Much of what we consider to be black history in Britain – The history of the African diaspora in Britain and the Americas is undergoing a radical genesis. No longer are people content to study the black America as if it were the only black history. Today’s historians are looking into the experience of people in Great Britain and its Empire. What they are uncovering is a rich and diverse history that turns on its head old assumptions and beliefs. It also shows that much of the contemporary white, black and minority ethnic experience is rooted in the development and history of Empire and Post Imperial developments. Today we are celebrating the life of Charlie Hutchison and his siblings. He and they are no longer hidden from public history but take their place amongst those whose experience will deepen our understanding of the history of the people of these Islands and beyond. People of colour have been in the British Isles since the Romans, and they have played a part in shaping the nation from Cable Street, to Spain, to the Battlegrounds of WWII and beyond”.

The College has teamed up with world-class professors from leading universities to deliver a range of online sessions for teachers. In the sessions, teachers will receive training to teach medieval African kingdoms and explore a wide range of topic areas, for all key stages of students.

The online sessions will be a collaborative space where teachers from across the UK can exchange ideas and resources for teaching African history in secondary schools and sixth forms. The sessions are designed to broaden the parameters of the curriculum and students’ sense of British history, re-examining prevailing assumptions about national identity and belonging.

A principal goal will be to widen the scope of Black history that students are exposed to.

Traditionally, British schools have only taught African history through the perspective of European colonisation. The issue with such a narrow segment implies that Africa was ahistorical prior to European discovery, propagating a false perception that no noteworthy events, discoveries or civilisations occurred there.

The African Studies Centre hopes to challenge this narrative of Africa by exploring its history that predates Colonialism and explore how African civilisations recorded and told their own histories.

The idea of opening an African Studies Centre at the College was conceived by Carina Ancell and Alan Kunna, two history lecturers at NewVIc.

The pair identified the need for a specialist place whilst undertaking research for a book they are co-writing on Charlie Hutchinson, the only known Black British volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.

Carina Ancell, History Lecturer and Honours Programme Manager at Newham Sixth Form College, said: “As far as we are aware there are not currently any schools or colleges in London offering a comprehensive super curricular African Studies programme. As such, this is a real opportunity to develop expertise amongst the capital’s teaching community whilst developing students’ interest in and appreciation of African history.”

Prior to choosing GCSE options, the National Curriculum dictates that in Key Stage 3, pupils should be taught a syllabus which enables them to “know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative […] how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world”.

In 2019, the Runnymede Trust found that despite the guidelines of the National Curriculum, there is considerable variability in how schools deliver lessons on British imperialism and post-colonial migration.

In addition to this, academies are not legally required to follow the National Curriculum, making it hard to determine how these topics are being explored with students.

A survey taken by the Trust, in conjunction with the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge, found that many teachers urgently wanted further support to bolster their confidence in exploring issues of empire and migration. 83% reported a desire for additional training on teaching about migration and 74% on teaching about empire.

The new African Studies Centre at NewVIc will provide a much-needed infrastructure of support so that more teachers are given the tools they need to tackle these subjects.

According to Carina Ancell, “All teachers, regardless of cultural background, must be encouraged to engage with this important section of history. We believe that it is really important that teachers who may not have a background or specialism in African history feel confident and supported in delivering materials on this topic.”

The hope is that the African Studies Centre will broaden the history taught in schools and change perceptions and public knowledge of what the history of the British people actually is.

Alan Kunna, History Lecturer and Foundation Learning Manager at Newham Sixth Form College, said: “We close down the possibility of being one people by ignoring others or disparaging their pasts which allows for division to exist and widen. Many Black and Asian students need to be encouraged to discover the relevance of their own histories in relation to current events in Britain today.”

The first session, The Issues with Teaching African History will be led by Toby Green, a senior lecturer in Lusophone African History at King’s College London, and will take place online on Wednesday 11 November at 5 pm.

All sessions are free and open to all teachers across the UK, prior registration is essential and available on the College’s website: www.newvic.ac.uk/african-studies-centre

In a year where the nation marked 75 years since Victory in Europe, Victory over Japan and 70 years since the beginning of the war in Korea, the Legion is also encouraging people to acknowledge the contribution of a new generation of Armed Forces who have responded alongside essential workers on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19.

The Legion’s new resources are designed to help children draw parallels between these modern-day challenges and the Second World War generation, highlighting the significance of Remembrance in today’s world. The resources have been created to provide children with the right level of support and challenge.

As the national champions of Remembrance, the Legion is committed to ensuring that it is understood and available to every child and community in the UK.

Catherine Davies, Head of Remembrance at The Royal British Legion says: “In this unique and challenging year, the Legion wants to support children in understanding why we remember. Our new teaching resources will not only teach children about the significance of remembering those from past conflicts, but also help them discover the relevance of Remembrance to today. The Royal British Legion is committed to making sure the torch of Remembrance is passed on to the next generation, and these resources will play an important role in achieving that.”

Fay Lant, Senior Programme Manager at the National Literacy Trust, says: “This year, the service and sacrifice of front-line workers is more relevant than ever before and taking a moment to pause and think about the people who work and volunteer to look after us seems especially important. As such, and as we also mark 75 years since VE Day, we have created a variety of resources for schools that tell the stories of the Second World War and offer a range of creative ways for pupils to explore Remembrance. Whether it’s taking part in our book club focused on ‘Now or Never’ by Bali Rai, creating a whole school Remembrance radio programme or creating your own work of art as an act of Remembrance, there really is something for everyone.”

The resources, available to download on the Legion’s website, include:

• Assemblies – Key Stage 2 & 3 – Explore and understand what Remembrance has meant and continues to mean to us in 2020. These resources will support children in understanding the relevance of Remembrance in their lives and encourage them to find their own ways to observe it.
• Bitesize Activities – Key Stage 2 & 3 – Designed to provide quick, meaningful activities which relate to both Remembrance as a whole, and through a ‘then and now’ lens.
• Book Club – Key Stage 2 & 3 – Explore Remembrance and themes of ‘Then and Now’ through a popular fiction text, Now or Never by Bali Rai. The resources are tailored to each key stage and include veteran interview films and input from the author himself.
• Primary and Secondary ‘whole school’ resources:
  • Creative Writing – Pupils can engage with Remembrance as they experience and create their own fiction texts. Extracts from Scholastic / The Royal British Legion’s book ‘Home Again’, author top tips and veteran interview films will encourage children to create their own written responses to past and present events.
  • Art Exhibition – This resource is designed to explore, understand, and express feelings about Remembrance in this unique year through creativity. By engaging with a range of stimulus such as painting, sculpture and music, children will explore the relationship between the experiences of children then and now.

The resources are available to download now at: rbl.org.uk/teachingremembrance

The competition is a drawing contest for children, aged between four and eleven. NYMR is inviting parents who are home schooling due to the current pandemic to encourage their children to think about what the railway might have looked like during wartime and put pen to paper to draw their interpretation of it.

During the second world war, Britain’s railways were used more heavily than at any time in their history and played a pivotal role in evacuating thousands of children and transporting them to safety, as well as delivering vital supplies across the breadth of the country.

Drawing competition entries should be submitted via nymr.co.uk/drawing-competition by Friday 28 August at 5pm and will be shortlisted by Chris Price, General Manager of NYMR. Once the top designs have been chosen, voting for the winning candidate will be handed over to the public to decide via the railway’s social media channels.

The winner will be announced on 9 October, during what would have been the Railway in Wartime event that usually welcomes more than 30,000 visitors.

Chris Price, General Manager of NYMR said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to teach children about the past as well as the importance of preserving our heritage railways. It was such a tough decision to have to cancel this year’s Railway in Wartime event due to the global pandemic, but we are so excited to see what the children come up with, and their interpretation of the Railway in Wartime. We’re hoping that this competition gives families the opportunity to get creative and feel inspired during these uncertain times.”

Terms and conditions apply. For the full competition terms and conditions, and to enter please visit nymr.co.uk/terms-conditions.

Year Two pupils at Sacred Heart Catholic School, part of the Romero Catholic Academy, were visited by ‘History Off The Page’ – a teaching company which visits schools to provide fun, practical lessons about a variety of historical topics.

The children enjoyed re-enacting what life would have been like on Pudding Lane – where the fire started – in 1666.

In the morning, the pupils tried their hands at various trades common to London at the time, including candle making, haberdashery and bread baking.

Later in the afternoon, the fire was simulated through the use of a smoke machine while pupils had to try and tear down ‘debris’ and find legal documents to help start rebuilding the city.

The pupils were helped on the day by sixth formers from Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School – also part of the Romero Academy Group – who are studying history themselves.

Phase Leader of Year One and Two, Lauren Roberts, felt the day was a great way to engage the children in their studies in a unique way.

She said: “We have a thematic curriculum at Sacred Heart, which means our pupils focus on a particular topic, such as the Great Fire of London, across several subjects. We’ve covered it in history, geography, English and science.

“We always like to try and incorporate days like this for the Year Two pupils around three times a year if we can.

“Getting History Off The Page in was brilliant – the children almost didn’t realise they were in a history lesson as they were having so much fun.

“They loved dressing up for the day, and the variety of activities meant every child found something interesting to do.”

And Sacred Heart’s Principal Paul Madia said a day like this was an example of a ‘wow day’ – where the school puts on special lessons which the children will remember for a long time.

“We try to end topics covered in our curriculum with a special day like this,” he said.

“History Off The Page did a brilliant job of keeping the children engaged throughout the whole day – they were fantastic.

“At Sacred Heart, we feel it’s very important to not only have regular, high-quality lessons, but to have days which are a little different which stay in our pupil’s memories.

“Practical lessons really make the topic come alive for the children, and they give them an opportunity to explore learning in a much more creative way.”

Simon Kinder, Gresham’s Head of History who has been involved in the project, explains: “The names were omitted either as a result of having only been discovered more recently, thanks to further research, or as a result of the students and staff members having moved away to other schools and institutions and therefore being included on memorials elsewhere. Some of the missing names were initially discovered by our former Deputy Head, Sue Smart, who published a poignant book about the fallen – When Heroes Die – in 2001. The book, which was reprinted in 2014, gives our school a connection with our past that few other schools are likely to have, and for that we are incredibly grateful to Sue.

“Building on Sue’s findings, I undertook further research, comparing our original school registers with the CWGC database, newspaper archives and family history and military online resources,steered by our school archivist Liz Larby. Committed to the philosophy that archives need to be educationally relevant, Liz has supported every aspect of our wider centenary project since 2014, including leading a group of student researchers every Friday afternoon in the task of creating profiles of the fallen men, all of which can be found in the Roll of Honour section of our dedicated WWI Memorial Website.”

The combination of staff and student efforts has resulted in the school discovering 15 names – the original memorial board depicted 99 students and one member of staff and the school now knows the names of 112 students and three members of staff – which will be included on the new memorial board. The largest donation towards the £8,000 needed for the new stone was given by the Gresham’s Foundation, with further support received from the Old Greshamiam Club and wider school community. A special effort was made by former Director of Music at Gresham’s, Angela Dugdale, for organising a WWI concert, 1914-1918 Never Such Innocence, Gresham’s at War in words and music. Proceeds from the concert, alongside £10 sales of a CD recorded in the school’s Fishmongers’ Recital Room by Robert FitzGerald, with tenor Christopher Barnes and pianoforte Philip Adam titled We do not forget, were donated to the memorial stone fund.

Gresham’s Headmaster, Douglas Robb, said: “In a service held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Chapel, in 2016, we remembered that the building stands as a memorial to those from the school community whose lives began here but were tragically cut short by war. The Roll of Honour of the 115 fallen students and staff was read out and, for each name, a member of the school’s current Combined Cadet Force solemnly left the building. The empty seats portrayed a haunting image to those present. As part of our four year focus on the centenary, we have paused and remembered each one of our fallen, as close as we can to the centenary of their death, with specially commissioned paper lanterns lit as a symbol of Hope and Peace, and 115 stories told since the project began in 2014.

“The City of Peace stained glass window bears the inscription “They whom this window commemorates were numbered among those who, at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and sacrifice, giving up their lives that others may live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.” I am so thankful to our students, to Simon and Liz, to Sue, and everyone else who has supported this project. It gives all of us such a tangible way to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War, as well as a renewed determination to play our part in maintaining peace.”

Developed in partnership with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), the range of resources will give pupils the opportunity to reflect on the impact of the First World War and to discover why remembrance has become a vital part of national life.

Available to those aged 7 to 14, materials consist of lesson plans, worksheets and presentations, designed to educate about the level of sacrifice made by British and Commonwealth men and women in the First World War.

The education resources will encourage the pupils to investigate the many backgrounds and experiences of the men, women and children who lived through the conflict.

Created for groups covering Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 curricula in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the resources aim to challenge pupils to distinguish between methods of historical enquiry, make connections, draw contrasts and frame historically valid questions, while creating a wider knowledge of the First World War and how it affected communities across the UK and the Commonwealth.

There But Not There Patron, Lord Dannatt said: “One of the key pillars of the There But Not There campaign is to educate. We believe it is vitally important that the generation of today are not only aware of the sacrifices made by so many men and woman during the First World War, but develop a strong understanding of the momentous effect it had on both the UK and the international community.

He continued: “These educational resources, made possible by the fantastic expertise and knowledge at the CWGC, will play a key role in ensuring that the children are well positioned to learn about one of the most important periods of this country’s history.”

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Director of Information and Communications, Liz Woodfield said: “Over the last 100 years the CWGC has helped to define the way in which the UK remembers the sacrifice of its Commonwealth forcesin both World Wars. These learning resources will enable teachers and students to learn more about the incredible work undertaken and the scale of the loss. They also provide an opportunity for young people to discuss how the decisions made, such as equality of treatment of the dead, were arrived at and to consider if we would reach the same decisions today.”

www.therebutnotthere.org.uk/education/

The students took part in a wide range of activities, including being put through their paces by a ‘Sergeant Major’ on a First World War assault course, working alongside artists to learn how dazzle camouflage confounded u-boats, and uncovering personal stories about the contributions made by minority ethnic soldiers.

Each participating school was able to compile a customised programme of activities for their students. The day culminated with a mass gathering of students in Heroes’ Square to review the day’s activities and to join in saying a gigantic “Thank You” to the First World War generation as confetti cannons filled the air with streams of red, white and blue paper strands.

The Thank You Youth Festival was funded by The Royal British Legion as part of the 2018 Thank You Movement.

Aysha Afridi, Head of Heritage and Learning, National Memorial Arboretum, said: “The young people who participated in the Thank You Youth Festival engaged in a number of exciting and thought-provoking activities providing them a greater understanding of Remembrance and of the tectonic changes that occurred during the First World War. It is essential that we continue to help younger generations learn about the tremendous sacrifices made by wartime generations ensuring that the invaluable lessons learnt are passed on.

“The Thank You Youth Festival was a tremendous success and all of the students were enthusiastic and eager to learn as they ventured around the Arboretum. A huge thank you to the staff and students from the 16 schools who joined us for this historic event.”

Catherine Davies, Head of Remembrance at The Royal British Legion, said: “So much of our lives today is shaped by the example and experience of the First World War generation. It was brilliant to see so many children coming together at the National Memorial Arboretum to learn about the war’s legacies and say their own ‘Thank You’ to all those who served, sacrificed and changed our world.”