The day started with a presentation to the full year of around 115 pupils using the Medaille Education Pack video which features Charlotte Kirkwood,  Deputy Chief Executive, speaking about the work of the Medaille Trust.  The video includes a woman rescued from enforced prostitution talking about her experience and the support she subsequently received from Medaille.

The four Year 9 classes then had one hour sessions in each of four subjects – Art, Drama, Music and History. The lesson plans broadly followed the Medaille Education Pack  format of introductory material followed by activities in small groups.  The activities were:

• Art – an artwork in the basic style of one of two contemporary artists
• Drama – a short drama to be used as an advert to raise awareness
• Music – a rap song with two verses each of four lines, each line having between 8 and 12 syllables
• History – an appeal to an MP

The best offerings from each class were then presented to the full group and the winner declared.

The day finished with a presentation summing up the day and the main issues and a prayer.

We felt the day was enormously successful.  The teachers had put in a lot of effort in planning their sessions and the pupils were enthusiastic and committed.  Teachers confessed to being almost totally unaware of the issue, and it’s presence locally,  until they researched the subject for material and resources.  Pupils also were taken by surprise.

Next week there will be an RE session which will bring it all together under the theme of Year of Mercy and the sacrament of Reconciliation.

The model that Corpus Christi developed is a credit to:

• Roisin Bowes (Head of Year 7, and an active member of our Anti-Trafficking Network) for the initial idea of using the Medaille Education Pack activities for Lenten competitions and her determination in making it happen;
• Emma Lord (Head of Art and Citizenship, Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) for taking the lead and designing the format of the day;
• Victoria Stacey (Head of RE) for bringing it all together under the banner of Catholic Social Teaching
• and John Griffin (School Chaplain) for his input, support and encouragement.

It is also a credit to all the teachers involved and of course the pupils themselves who learned and achieved so much.

We hope that now that the planning and thinking has been done, other schools might adopt this model using or adapting the Corpus Christi lesson plans and activities.

During the day we took many photographs and teachers agreed to submit their lesson plans and PowerPoints for use elsewhere.  Hopefully we will soon have some pictures to show of the pupils’ exhibits.

Anthony and Mary Brown

25 November 2015

FAITH AND JUSTICE DAY

We did six 40 minute sessions with Year 10 pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic High School on their Faith and Justice Day.  With limited time we used a film from Unchosen http://www.unchosen-films.org/  followed by discussion on the issues raised.  As always the reaction was surprise, shock, disgust, anger, and an almost complete lack of awareness even amongst the teachers who sat in.

26 November 2014

FAITH AND JUSTICE DAY

We were invited to lead three one hour sessions with Year 10 pupils at Corpus Christi High School in Fulwood on their first-ever Faith and Justice Day.  Essentially we covered:

• It happens here
• Worldwide, modern Day slavery is bigger now than at any time in past history
• It is demand led– and we are all responsible for that.
• The catholic churchis doing more than any other religious organisation in the World to combat slavery

The things that struck us were:

• How little they knew about human trafficking and how surprised and shocked they were
• The school’s encouragement for our work there and the teachers support in the classroom
• The need to learn from doing this sort of thing and the need to be flexible and open to adapting the material

From the Chaplain of Corpus Chirsti we got: “We had our evaluation and the pupils loved your session.  They found it insightful and also quite frightening that it happens still.  They were really shocked but very thankful that they know about it.  They also really liked you and Mary as presenters”

Mary and Anthony Brown