大象传媒

• The initiative puts young people right at the heart of the 大象传媒’s coverage of London 2012 by aiming to inspire schools to twin for 2012
• Since its launch in 2005 the project has supported thousands of teachers in developing school-to-school partnerships and encouraged pupils to share creative work inspired by the London Olympics with the organisations' global audiences
• Now in 2012 many schools have been partnered with schools attended by athletes from around the world who are part of the 大象传媒’s World Olympic Dreams project. They have been matched with schools in Kosovo, Kenya, Ulan Bator, Belgium, Bradford, Brazil, middle America and the Middle East with over 2,600 more schools signing up to twin

In feedback to the 大象传媒 World Class team teachers from across the world are very clear about the benefits of twinning:

• They want to broaden the horizons of their pupils
• Give children who may not have left the neighbourhood an awareness of the wider world
• Prepare their pupils for a global future

In the UK specifically, teachers give two main reasons:

• Some schools want to celebrate the diversity of their pupils by making friends with schools elsewhere
• Others want to offer mono-cultural communities a taste of the wider world

Twin for 2012

Primary and secondary schools are invited to 'twin for 2012' with 大象传媒 World Class - bbc.co.uk/worldclass. With a target of inspiring 3000 schools to twin, 大象传媒 World Class is currently well on the way to achieving its goal. Working with the 大象传媒 World Class team and the 大象传媒's partners, these schools are able to share and compare ideas and experiences online and, on occasion, in the 大象传媒’s World Olympic Dreams broadcasts.

2012 Assemblies

大象传媒 World Class in partnership with 大象传媒 Learning has launched a new weekly resource for primary and secondary teachers in schools; 2012 Assemblies. These offer:

• Assembly video clips, teachers notes and discussion points
• This resource was launched following feedback by teachers who said that they struggle to find topical resources for assemblies
• This is the first time that the 大象传媒 has provided video assembly packs

Each assembly ends with an Assembly Question. For example:

• "Do you prefer to play sport on your own or in a team?" (from an assembly on double gold mountain bike medallist, Julien Absalon) or:
• "Should girls and boys be allowed to play the same sports?" (from an assembly on World Champion female boxer, MC Mary Kom)
• Schools are encouraged to do a show of hands and email their answer to worldclass@bbc.co.uk

2012 Assemblies celebrate the build up to the London Olympics with films from World Class schools, World Olympic Dreams athletes and topical features from the Schools World Service.

In addition other 大象传媒 2012 content such as School Report and Off By Heart Shakespeare, as well as 2012 projects outside the 大象传媒 such as Face Britain are featured.

Schools World Service

大象传媒 World Class and the British Council signed a co-production agreement to produce topical stories for teachers across the UK to use as educational collateral in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic Games:

• The project aims to increase pupils understanding of international stories, how they are affecting the wider world and engage them in debate and dialogue
• The new project has been piloting since April when the first film, the story of the Cairo revolution from the point of view of some of the Egyptian school children involved was produced
• More recently, 大象传媒 Breakfast reporter Jenny Hill went to see how pupils at a school in Kessenuma, Japan have been affected by the Tsunami and how they are starting to rebuild their lives

Working in co-operation with Global News, Schools World Service films have been shown on 大象传媒 World. Further details can be found at: bbc.co.uk/worldclass.

Other films include a Welsh 13 year old with Downs Syndrome who represented Team GB at the Special Olympics in Athens and young people in the Amazon rainforest as they seek to find the right balance between development, and the preservation of their unique environment.

Olympic Dreams Live

The 大象传媒 and the British Council worked together to organise a competition for UK schools. Their prize was a partnership with a school attended by an Olympic hopeful and an invitation to the Olympic Dreams Live event, funded by the British Council. The event took place in January 2011with teachers from the winning schools and one pupil from each secondary school. They were joined by teachers and pupils from schools around the world. Over the two days, the schools received a crash course in successful and sustainable partnerships from the British Council, while the pupils also worked together to exchange ideas and develop leadership skills as ambassadors for the project.

The British Museum, as host venue, also encouraged delegates to explore the galleries and choose an object from the world collection which the felt best represented them or their partnership.

Amanda Farnsworth, 大象传媒 London 2012 Project Executive said: “The 大象传媒 made a commitment to ensure that the London 2012 Olympics Games leave a legacy for future generations and we are thrilled at the success of 大象传媒 World Class so far in helping us fulfil this pledge. From Olympic Dreams Live to Schools World Service to the World Class Assemblies we have seen thousands of schools across the world engaging with each other using our content to further their development and understanding of the world. We hope this is just the beginning of some really rich and engaging relationship between the schools that will last up to and beyond the London Games.”

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