Creative writing competition for young people

What can you say with an anti-racist message. How can you be CREATIVE about this in up to 500 words?

Looking forward to your entries for this:

Creative writing competition for young people

Enter the B&NES creative writing competition to promote an anti-racist message

Background

This autumn, as part of Black History Month, a special play is coming to Bath: ‘Getting the Third Degree’ will be on at the Rondo Theatre Bath on 13th November & Prior Park College on 14th November.

The play is written by award winning playwright Dougie Blaxland and it tells the powerful and deeply moving story of Laurie Cunningham who came to prominence with West Bromwich Albion in the late 1970’s. The first of the black footballing trio famously dubbed The Three Degrees - Laurie Cunningham with his swaggering style and dazzling skills forced favourable comparisons with the legendary Pele. The first ever millionaire black footballer, the first player of colour to sign for the mighty Real Madrid and only the second to win a full cap for England - he inspired a whole generation of young black players to follow in his pioneering footsteps. 

Getting The Third Degree also explores how Laurie and his fellow black players - Brendon Batson and Cyrille Regis - triumphed over the racial abuse and physical threats often orchestrated by The National Front through a potent combination of footballing brilliance, charismatic style and compelling dignity.

With the resurgence of racial abuse at football matches and in wider society in the UK playwright Dougie Blaxland believes that “although Getting the Third Degree dramatises events that took place over 40 years ago, the issues that the play raises are every bit as relevant today as they were then.”  And that’s where the idea of a local creative writing competition came from.

The creative writing competition

The B&NES anti- racism creative writing competition is free to enter, open to young people from Year 1 – Year 13, of all abilities, who live or go to school in B&NES. 


We want to encourage participants to think about racism and produce their own creative writing piece about this serious issue. It could be a piece of prose, or poetry.  A play script or a story - if it’s about racism, and how to overcome it - we want to see it!  You might want to base it on real life events within Getting The Third Degree - and research what happened to Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson and Cyrille Regis at West Bromwich Albion - or you might want to cover something entirely different – it’s up to you.

Prizes The competition is being kindly sponsored by Bath City FC and prizes include family tickets to a Bath City match and signed footballs – plus the winning entries will be published on the council's website.
   

Rules for entries

There are four age categories as detailed below:

1. Category 1: Years 1-4
2. Category 2: Years 5-6     
3. Category 3: Years 7-9
4. Category 4: Year 10-13

• Entries can be individual or group.
• Maximum entries from schools – 3 per age category class. (Schools will need to select the entries they wish to put forward into the competition).
• Maximum length of entries 500 words.
• Entries should be emailed to Equality@bathnes.gov.uk;  (Please scan and send paper entries electronically).
• Deadline for entries – Friday 20^th December 2019
• The judging panel will include award winning playwright Dougie Blaxland (writer of Getting the Third Degree) and also colleagues from Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI).
• Winners to be announced by Friday 31^st January 2020.

(NB – schools may also wish to submit creative writing entries to the national Show Racism The Red Card competition 2020 – deadline yet to be announced but usually end of February).

Any questions?

Email Equality@bathnes.gov.uk;

Radio Stars in the making

The Supplementary School now has a new Co-ordinator, since mid-May 2019. Rob Mitchell has come from a background of media education, with Firstborn Studios, Black Pyramid Film and Video Project and years of working as a Media Producer and Educator in Bristol, where he learned the craft of using arts and media (film, radio, music, photography, animation) as a way of getting young people and whole communities interested and engaged in issues and learning.

Rob is a Film-maker, Spoken-word artist and Performer.

He co-produced a feature documentary with Loraine Blumenthal about Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees and his bid for power. The Mayors Race (2018) was made over six years and tells a story about a man, from the ghetto, who aspires to make a difference in the world, believing he can do this as Mayor of the city.  But what role does his 'race' and identity play in Bristol?

As Suppplementary School Coordinator, Rob follows in the footsteps of  Emma, Mark and Michelle, with the aim of keeping creativity, culture, identity and heritage at the centre of the Saturday School.

His overall aim is to keep sessions fun but challenging,  recognising the importance of a having a space like our Saturday School to do different types of learning.

On Saturday 8th June 2019, the Saturday School's involvement in Imeperial Voice Radio meant that the group has made history by producing the first live show on the station . Prior to this, the new, online station, connected to Farifield House in Bath, has been working with pre-recorded material.

imperialvoice.com - new online radio

After a nervous start, the group loosened up to get happily into their new roles as radio presenters. Following some self-evaluation, there are plans afoot to improve on that first attempt, with techniques and team-working skills that will help them to quicky become radio pros. For a flavour of the new show, creatively named - Peanut Butter and Chocolate on Toast, please listen on Soundcloud. While lisening to imperialvoice.com , you can also hear broadcasts of  our programme amidst the diverse range of content.

 Rob hopes for the group to build on their first steps and make radio an integral part of their creative, fun and community-connected learning experience.

Faifield House, Bath.  home of new radio station

Anti-Bullying Campaign

This campaign highlights the potential affects online bullying can have and encourages young people to think about their actions when using social media. 

Through the campaign we explored the role of the bystander which inspired the message behind the video: Would you send it? #predictreflectdecide. 

One young person shared that "the campaign was inspiring and encouraged them to not be a bystander"

Secondary Youth Parliament Day - Thursday 8th February

On Thursday 8^th February, some of our young people attended the BATHNES Secondary Youth Parliament Day which focused on Health and Equality. They had the opportunity to take part in debates and discussions based on the 4 topics below:

1.       Dealing with discrimination
2.       Gender and mental health
3.       Sugar Smart
4.       Looking after your well-being 

Following on from the workshops, the young people presented their discussions to an audience and were asked to reflect and devise a set of actions to take back to their setting or school.

Comments from our young people:

''It has been pretty cool.''

''I have learned what an Equalities team is.''

 ''The workshop: Dealing with Discrimination was my favourite part of the day and I learnt about different types of discrimination.''

 ''I enjoyed the day and I would talk to my E-team about any problems I have.''

''I liked it. Very eventful''

How do young people who attend the Supplementary School contribute to the community?

In partnership with the University of Bath, the young people who attend the Supplementary School explored their contributions to the community. The project used qualitative research methods and collected data through interviews with a small sample of participants; a local authority equality office, heritage officer, parent and former student. All the interviews were formulated, conducted and recorded by the young people and they commissioned Shawn Sobers to make this film about their findings.

Hidden Presence

A collaborative research project exploring the presence of Black people in Bath city in the Georgian era. Young people from Black Families Education Support Group conducted research at Bath Record Office, and commissioned  film maker Shawn Sobers  to visualize their findings.

"Can I touch your hair?" Fed up of having your hair harassed?...Not any more. Introducing the Hand Swatter 2.0. Made by the Young People of the BFESG with help of Michael Jenkins of 8th Sense Media, The Hand Swatter 2.0 advert is a satirical look at the issue of hair touching.