Bath Spa Students Inspire Pupils through the History and Culture of the Games
Five students from Bath Spa University have been working hard to develop a resource pack for use in primary schools exploring the history and culture of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with a focus on the South West of England. The project has been supported by RELAYS and TWE, but has been fully led by the students themselves. The project has recently been awarded the Inspire Mark, which recognises and supports outstanding projects taking place around the UK that are providing new opportunities for young people and their communities as a result of the Games.
A series of fun, creative, practical and educational activities have been developed, appropriate for Key Stages one and two. All the activities are underpinned by the Olympic and Paralympic values.
The students have visited a local primary school to pilot a selection of the activities and have also sought feedback and advice from education professionals. This initial piloting has been an invaluable process and has definitely improved the quality of the resource.
The next phase of the project will involve the students working with a designer and illustrator to bring their ideas to life. The resources will then be piloted in several more schools before rolling them out across the area for use in schools in 2012. Schools will be encouraged to use the resource pack alongside the Get Set website, and to use their activity as the basis for a Get Set Network application.
The students have realised that through this project they can really extend the enthusiasm generated by the upcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in primary school children in the West of England.
Jade Lewis one of the Bath Spa students explained:
“We were keen to stress that although the Olympic and Paralympic Games are being held in London, there are clear connections and links to the South West and the benefits and legacy of being a Games host should not be restricted to the capital.”
The Bath Spa students were aware that a key objective of the Cultural Olympiad is to encourage creativity and realised that creating an educational resource pack, with a series of original activities, could help create a legacy of creativity and criticality amongst the children and teachers who use the pack.
“We have all enjoyed the challenge of being involved in this 2012 inspired activity and we feel that hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games provides a tremendous opportunity to inspire young people, endless possibilities to create and support activities and lots of enthusiasm that can be channelled into a wide variety of activities, all of which can help create a lasting legacy from the Games.”
(Pete Jones, Bath Spa University student.)
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