Education 2.qxp_Layout 1 23/10/2019 11:15 Page 1
EDUCATION NEWS UPDATES FROM THE CITY’S SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
DAVID OLUSOGA AT REDMAIDS
FILM FOR LEARNING
TECH PARTNERSHIPS OF THE FUTURE
Last month, teachers from 10 Bristol primary schools began a learning journey to become trained in using film as a teaching tool, thanks to the new Film for Learning programme being delivered by Into Film and boomsatsuma in partnership with Bristol, UNESCO City of Film. The four-year school development project, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, aims to improve young people’s attainment in literacy. Bristol is one of three cities selected (with Belfast and Bradford) to take part. Schools include Easton Academy, Fishponds Church of England Academy, Knowle Park, Sea Mills Primary School, Shirehampton Primary School and Whitehall Primary. “Weaving film into the education experience has been proven to be fantastically beneficial for young people, so I’m very excited that Bristol schoolchildren will be receiving this experience,” said Bristol UNESCO City of Film coordinator Natalie Moore. “This programme is creating a strong film education network which will enable Bristol schools to share knowledge and best practice with the schools and training practitioners in our fellow City of Film Bradford, and I’m sure that collaborating together over the coming years will prove to be incredibly fruitful.”
Osborne Clarke and the University of Bristol have teamed up to offer an innovative yearly legal and emerging tech vacation scheme in a bid to help form the technology partnerships of the future. Osborne Clarke hopes to tap into the university’s strong reputation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths and law to offer students the chance to get real-world experience at a highprofile technology law firm. Students started by undertaking a twoweek placement with a difference at the firm’s Temple Quay office; challenged to work together using their different skill sets on a project to resolve a real business problem using technology. Partners Nick Simpson, Mark Taylor and Rob Horne oversaw the work, with students receiving additional mentoring from the IT and legal teams. They also had the opportunity to attend workshops and meet with different Osborne Clarke specialists to see how new technologies are impacting on the law and how the firm is utilising them in its services. Alongside the scheme, programme experts from Osborne Clarke will also be giving guest lectures at the university. • osborneclarke.com; bristol.ac.uk
• intofilm.org/film-for-learning
80 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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NOVEMBER 2019
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No 185
Students at Redmaids’ High School received a special visit from historian, author and broadcaster David Olusoga recently. David, whose recent TV work includes House Through Time and the BAFTA awardwinning Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, was invited as part of the girls’ history studies and Black History Month. “Black History Month is about finding a history that all of us can relate to,” he said. “The British population continues to increase in diversity so that by the middle of this century, one third of its people will be black or of minority ethnic origin. Our history must therefore work for the country we are going to become. “You are part of a longer story” he told the students, “living as you do in an old city and attending such a historic school. To understand why we are the way we are, we have to understand history is not just what happens here, but what happens around the world and how everything is connected.” Following his talk, and as part of a Q&A session, David told sixth form historians: “I sense your generation is much less willing to tolerate a sanitised version of the past. You use the internet to actively search for truth and I sense a real willingness to question orthodoxies, which is very positive.” Finally, during a recorded broadcast for the school’s radio station, Redmaidio, David discussed a range of issues including education, the environment, Brexit and cultural identity with Freya Rolt and Layla Qazi, both of whom have applied to the University of Oxford to study history. “I don’t feel guilt or shame about my ancestors,” he told them, “but I do feel a responsibility to discuss what happened.” Speaking of his visit, Claire Warrington, Redmaids’ High head of history, added: “David reminded us that some of our history is very difficult and painful. But that’s all part of it and we can’t pretend it’s not.” David is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours 2019 for his services to history and community integration.
• redmaidshigh.co.uk