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SKILLS GAP FEATURE - SCHOOLS TO GSCE


DDY BEAR PROJECT


• “15.39% of Great Yarmouth Households has an annual income of less than £10,000 per annum. This compares with 12.97% for Norfolk, 9.32% for the East of England and 10.61% for the UK.


• “As of March 2011, 6.59% of the working age population of Great Yarmouth claim job-seekers allowance. This compares with 3.59% for Norfolk, 3.21% for East Anglia and 3.89% for the UK.


GLOBAL AWARENESS With this in mind, it became clear that the primary aim of the Teddy Bear Adventure would be to help the students become better aware of the wider world around them, and hopefully raise their employment aspirations into the future.


Each of the twelve


participating schools adopted and named a Gardline Bear and, given that Gardline personnel work and travel worldwide, staff were to be encouraged to contribute to both the schools’ curricula and the student’s knowledge


by taking their bears on assignments, and “reporting back” with photographs and stories.


PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT


• “In terms of the UK Child Well-being Index (CWI) out of 354 district authorities, where a rank of 1 shows the highest CWI, Great Yarmouth ranks 289th”.


• “In most types of study of academic attainment, Great Yarmouth scores approximately twice as worse as the UK national average. As an example, where as a UK average, 12.3% of the population has no qualifications at all, In Great Yarmouth, the figure is 22.4%”


• “a Quarter of all children in Great Yarmouth are in families who are in receipt of key out-of-work benefits”


It was anticipated that, by having personal engagement, through their bear, the students would have a far closer interest in the curriculum subject. Thus, and at the request of some of the schools, the bears have for example visited and learned about space travel at the Houston Space Centre, learnt about the Roman occupation of Britain, in Bath, travelled to learn more about other countries possibly out of reach to some of the pupils, such as Cuba, Brazil, Malaysia, Egypt & Australia and found out about marine science in their classrooms, by meeting marine biologists and other specializations.


GARDLINE HANDS-ON PARTICIPATION As part of the programme, Gardline personnel have also participated in school activities including reading programmes, arranging visits from the local fire brigade and providing some real world advice and role play as to what a CV is, and how industry recruits its employees of tomorrow.


DEDICATED WEBSITE Gardline developed a dedicated website - www.gardlinebear.co.uk which has also proved very popular both with the


students and their families and friends. Here the schoolchildren can upload their stories and photographs, play games and ask questions of Gardline’s own “house” bear, George.


POSITIVE RESPONSE The project, now reaching its first anniversary has received a very positive response both from within the Great Yarmouth community, and elsewhere. Bill Holledge, headmaster of Greenacre, one of the participating schools is quoted as saying: “The George the Bear scheme has had a significant, positive impact on our school by encouraging our pupils to think beyond their local area and to consider the wider world. By using a character that the pupils can relate to, the project has supported the children to ask questions about places, far and near, and to consider the implications of global issues. I am very grateful to Gardline for its commitment to the school, which has enabled our children to begin to get a flavour of the world of work and the opportunities that are available to them……..”


Gardline www1.gardline.com


e = See enhanced entry online = See video library online


www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 23


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