The work of this group continues to focus primarily on increasing the awareness of bell ringing amongst the young community, with the aim inspiring some to ‘give it a go’, whilst providing a level of interest for all.
For engagement in school environments, a set of lesson plans covering multiple subjects has been created for Year 5 children which can be delivered by non-ringing teachers. This set of plans is currently being trialled in a couple of schools to help us streamline the documentation before it is made available more widely. The same approach is being taken to cover Year 7, and his is in an earlier stage of development.
The workgroup has been actively working at various levels in the Scouting and Guiding movements, to produce badge programmes and challenges for their members to follow. Within the Guides, work has been completed to re-vamp the Bluebells’ Challenge, originally created in memory of Alison Regan, ready for re-launch. It is just now waiting for the creation of a supporting video, the filming for which is taking place on 1stApril. For the Scouts, work is under way to produce an ‘Occasional Badge’ which will initially be launched locally and then higher up to both county and national levels. It will be along similar lines to Bluebells’ and also have supporting video content.
For other youth organisations, a number of ‘How To’ documents have been produced, providing useful information on how to contact and engage with local groups, and then what to do when they pay a visit to the tower. In addition to this, a framework to help manage and measure progress Duke of Edinburgh candidates has been drawn up and is in the final stages of review. Some Tower Captains are using this framework already and feedback has been positive.
Another initiative that has recently landed with this group, is the planning and running of a summer school for young ringers who aspire to teach. It is being planned for the first week of September, after the summer holidays but before freshers week. Depending on the uptake, the event will comprise of either 1 or 2 days of ART M1 courses for freshers and/or year 1-2 students who has signed up to learn to teach, followed by a further 1 or 2 days at the weekend, where they can practice their skills on some locally engaged potential young ringers. It is hoped that this will provide ringing students with the skills required to teach those newly recruited whilst at university.
The SYG Workgroup continues to work on the production of materials for youth engagement and is just waiting for some final work on the website area to make these materials widely available to all. If anyone has an immediate need for something, they should contact the group via the email address below and finally, if you would like to help or even just offer some of your thoughts and ideas, please make contact at the same address and we can arrange some dialogue.
Colin Newman
CCCBR Schools & Youth Groups – Workgroup Lead