2013/01/18
The UK government funded Steve Sinnott Fellowship is seeking applications from candidates for fellowship awards with a closing deadline of 31st January. The Fellowship funds the work of outstanding teacher practitioners in England and Wales who create innovative external links and relationships to improve pupil aspiration and attainment. The Fellowship was placed under review by the UK coalition government when it was elected in 2010 but was restored for a third cohort in the autumn of 2012 at the request of the Steve Sinnott Foundation and thanks to the initiative of UK Schools Minister David Laws M.P.
For more information about the Fellowship visit www.outwardfacingschools.org.uk
2013/01/17
Sam Whittingham,14, and Millie Wells,15, both from Ringwood School in Hampshire are to be the 2013 Young Ambassadors for the Global Campaign for Education UK. Sam and Millie won a national competition, The Steve Sinnott Award, to find two dynamic and passionate young people who want to further the cause of Education for All.
Sam and Millie’s year-long role will start with a fact finding mission to India. The Young Ambassadors will visit Oxfam India projects in and around the capital city Delhi. They will have the opportunity to visit slum communities, attend classes at a government school; meet child campaigners and children missing out on school. On return they will help raise awareness by talking to the media, meeting with politicians and speaking at events to UK teachers and within parliament.
Millie said: “When I heard that we had won the Steve Sinnott Award and would be going to India I was overcome with emotion, I just couldn’t believe it. Words can’t describe how much it means to me. I just can’t wait to start work as a Young Ambassador for the campaign.”
Sam added:”The thing that I am most looking forward to is being able to do something constructive to help children across the world and hopefully improve their standard of living and education."
As Young Ambassadors Sam and Millie will be helping to inspire other young people in the UK to take part in the Send My Friend to School campaign, to learn about this global problem and engage their MPs in taking this issue to parliament and to the Prime Minister.
Nicola Cadbury, Global Campaign for Education UK Co-ordinator and one of the competition judges, said:The Judges all felt that Sam and Millie clearly understood the complex issues and how international change can be achieved, but were also articulate, engaging and really passionate. What came across was how deeply they felt that more must be done. We think they’ll make great Young Ambassadors!”
Source: Send My Friend to School, the UK consortium of the Global Campaign for Education - [www.sendmyfriend.org]
2011/08/12
Teachers Building Society (TBS) has donated £1,037 to The Steve Sinnott Foundation.
Accepting the TBS cheque, Graham Clayton, director of The Steve Sinnott Foundation said, “Teachers Building Society has a long and proud record of supporting teachers, and has earned its trusted reputation. TBS support is very important to us. We will be making sure that this donation is put to very good use in this worldwide effort for education, and, through TBS, we'll be keeping its members in touch with our work.”
James Bawa, Chief Executive of Teachers Building Society, added: "As an organisation founded by teachers, we are very supportive of the aims of The Steve Sinnott Foundation and so were happy to provide this donation. Steve Sinnott was very highly regarded by all who knew him and the Foundation is the perfect legacy of a respected and committed teacher and leader.”
2011/06/23
Community member, Malcolm Peppiatt, is looking for 10 schools within one local education authority area in England/Wales to partner schools in Rwanda as part of the British Council's Global School Partnerships programme. For more information visit www.britishcouncil.org/schoolpartnerships.htm
Anyone able to help or make suggestions, please email to postmaster@stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk
2011/04/27
Football and Freedom- A teacher’s pack, revised version released 27 April 2011, South Africa’s Freedom Day.
The pack which provides a wealth of material for teachers and students on the history, context, achievements and challenges of South Africa was first developed in time for the 2010 World Cup.
It was produced by the National Union of Teachers and Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) with input and support from Kick it Out, Link Community Development and the London Borough of Haringey, Schools and Young People’s Service.
The pack proved to be an extremely popular resource with more than 15,000 downloads on the NUT and ACTSA’s websites. It has therefore been revised and the updated version was launched at the NUT’s 2011 Annual Conference 22-26 April. It is officially available for downloading today, South Africa’s Freedom Day at www.teachers.org.uk/footballandfreedom or www.actsa.org/page-1464-Football_and_Freedom.html
The pack allows teachers to use children’s passion for football to explore South Africa’s history, culture and the challenges and successes of development. It includes a wide range of cross curricular resources that have been developed by NUT members with an interest in international development and southern Africa. The aim of the pack is to enable teachers explore the history and context of South Africa in a way that will get the interest and attention of pupils and increase their knowledge and learning.
The pack includes sections on the struggle against apartheid and for a non racist, non sexist democratic South Africa. It summarises the country’s achievements and challenges. Just under a year ago South Africa magnificently hosted the 2010 World Cup. 17 years ago people were going to vote in South Africa’s first democratic election. From racist pariah state South Africa became the Rainbow Nation. Much has been achieved; South Africa is a different country but the legacy of 50 years of apartheid and 350 years of colonialism and the challenges of today means much has still to be done.
2010/11/29
We cannot imagine a more shortsighted view of the world's need for education that the achievement of the MDGs should depend on the charity of 'donors'. At the Steve Sinnott Foundation, we reject the idea that education is something to be supported by 'charity' and 'aid'. We call for a change of approach to one which accepts education as a right of the child, and an investment in all our futures.
That is the purpose of the online worldwide community accessible through this website. Teachers and educators around the world who believe in education, who have the determination and commitment to secure education for all, can share that determination and commitment with their colleagues wherever there is a need and wherever there is something to offer to meet that need.
Steve Sinnott's own slogan was 'Working Together - Winning Together'. We follow Steve's lead. Working together, the great goal of education for all by 2015 is winnable.
2010/09/21
United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has told world leaders meeting in New York that the Millennium Development Goals can be met by 2015. He urged them to stick to the task despite the global downturn, insisting that the goals had led to "more development success stories than ever before", and had had a "transformative impact".
"Being true to the Millennium Development Goals means supporting the vulnerable despite the economic crisis," he told the world leaders summit. "We should not balance budgets on the backs of the poor. We must not draw back from official developmental assistance, a lifeline of billions for billions."
For more from the BBC see www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11375847
Britain's former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has joined the Global Campaign for Education as Convenor of its High-Level Panel on Education for All. A spokesperson for Gordon said: "Gordon Brown's global work will focus on those areas where he believes he is best placed to make a difference and these new initiatives are a sign of his determination to do that."
Gordon Brown himself, speaking at a GCE organised event in New York on 20 September, said: “I am angry about the waste of opportunity and potential in education in so many parts of our world today but I am inspired by so many people who want to make possible in our generation for the first time the right of everyone to be able to go to school.”
The Foundation has written to Gordon Brown expressing pleasure at his commitment to the work of the Global Campaign for Education and hoping for a close relationship with the former Prime Minister in the common effort to secure the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals for Education.
2010/06/23
"We who have benefited from education know of its crucial importance, not purely on our personal development but in helping is to realise our full potential. Education is not only a basic human right; it is an investment in people and future generations.
Education provides the skills and knowledge that allow people to help themselves. It stimulates growth within communities and contributes to a better future for all. It helps create more stable and prosperous nations, which are then better able to respond to global threats such as climate change. Education encourages peace, democracy, good government and international security, as well as providing the key to unlocking the potential within each and every child."
This was Baroness Verma, the new coalition government's spokesperson in the House of Lords on international development, introducing in the House a motion noting progress towards meeting the millennium development goals.
Committing the new government to maintain the UK's contribution to the achievement of the MDGs Baroness Verma went on -
"Some, both in developing and developed countries, might argue that we cannot afford to invest in universal education at a time of financial constraints at home. This Government disagree. We believe an investment in education for all will help to assure our common prosperity and security. A global economy such as ours needs the knowledge and skills that can come only from a solid base of education. Evidence from past recessions clearly demonstrates that maintaining investment in education helps to ensure rapid recovery."
Pictured above at the Foundation's Parliamentary launch in December 2009, Sandip, Baroness Verma is a Steve Sinnott Foundation supporter and friend. The Foundation has written to her warmly welcoming her statement.
See the Hansard Report for full details of the House of Lords debate
2010/01/30
The Motion is -
That this House welcomes the cross-party support at the launch in Parliament on 1 December 2009 of the Steve Sinnott Foundation, a charity set up to promote the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 2 of universal primary education for all by 2015; notes that the Foundation will work with teachers worldwide to set up a global online community through which they can share knowledge and experience and help secure a primary education for the 75 million children who are denied the opportunity to attend school; and further notes that the work of the Foundation will continue the work and commitment of Steve Sinnott, the late General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, who was passionate about the cause of primary education for all."
2010/01/06
Congratulations* to the 2010 winners of the Steve Sinnott Award for Young Global Education Campaigners, Rhiannon Kruse-Edwards and Ronan McKenzie.
Read all about them at www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/05/global-campaign-for-education
2009/12/02
London 1 December 2009
Commenting on the presence at the event also of shadow Secretaries of State, Michael Gove M.P. for the Conservatives and David Laws M.P. for the Liberal Democrats, Ed Balls expressed his pleasure at the political cross party support for the Foundation. Earlier both Mr. Gove and Mr. Laws had indicated their wish to give their assistance and that of their parties to promote the Foundation's work.
The event which took place in offices in London's Westminster opposiite the House of Parliament was attended by several members of the Houses of Commons and Lords connected with education and international development. Former film producer and chair of the General Teaching Council for England, Lord Puttnam, spoke of his friendship with Steve and his admiration for Steve's ability to get things done. Lord Puttnam, who has agreed to be a patron of the Foundation, described himself as proud to be associated with the the project.
Political leaders attending the event included :
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Michael Gove, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
David Laws, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
Jacqui Smith M.P. Former Secretary of State for Education and Skills and Home Secretary
Baroness Morris Former secretary of State for Education and Skills
Baroness Farrington, Baroness Sharp, Baroness Verma, Baroness Walmsley
Lord Puttnam
Sylvia Heal M.P., Jon Trickett M.P., Phil Willis M.P.
[MORE PHOTOS...]
2009/11/15
Writing in the New York Times on 15th November, Nicholas Kristof tells the extraordinary story of Tererai Trent, who grew up impoverished in northern Zimbabwe and was able — with the help of aid groups — to get an education. Next month she will receive her Ph.D. from Western Michigan University.
To read the full story go to http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/dr-tererai-trent/
Listen also to Nicholas Kristof's Audio slide show "A Powerful Truth - How educating girls can help fight poverty at www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/08/20/magazine/kristof-audioss/index.html#
2009/10/30
UK Prime Minister backs Foundation
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is backing the Foundation. In a letter sent to mark the UK launch of the Foundation in May, the Prime Minister expressed his regret that he could not be at the launch and went on:
"I know that Steve held a deep belief in the power of education to transform lives. He was a passionate believer that every child, from whatever background, had talent and potential. And he saw a decent education as vital to unlocking this talent and to opening up opportunity. Throughout his career he demonstrated this commitment with his tireless work and clear dedication to improving all children’s life chances."
Having worked with Steve to promote MDG2, Gordon Brown expressed his certainty that Steve would have been proud to see his passion for education live on in the shape of this new Foundation. Sharing the same passion for extending educational opportunities around the world and continuing his government's commitment to education for all with a further $100 million over the next two years, the Prime Minister adds: "What better way to remember Steve than to use his name to help win the fight to ensure that every child in the world has the opportunities afforded by a good education? "
Concluding with a good luck message, Gordon Brown says this to encourage communities throughout the world to join the effort to achieve MDG2:
"If the international community is to keep its collective promise to meet the Millennium Development Goal of delivering primary education by 2015, we need to step up our efforts. This will mean continued government action. But without the efforts of thousands in civil society, including through organisations like the new Foundation, we will not make the progress that social justice demands."
The then Overseas Development Minister, Ivan Lewis M.P., attended the launch, representing the UK Governmment and to give his personal good wishes. Baroness Farrington spoke warmly about Steve and her pleasure at the establishment of the Foundation in his name.
Amongst others sending supportive messages were: Rt. Hon Ed Balls M.P. Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families; Baroness (Estelle) Morris, Former Secretary of State for Education and Skills; Rt.Hon. Charles Clarke M.P. Former Secretary of State for Education and Skills; David Laws M.P. Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families; Lord Puttnam of Queensgate; Baroness Perry of Southwark; Baroness Sharp of Guildford, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on education in the House of Lords; Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary
Foundation opens offices in Watford
On 1st November, the Foundation opens up its office at 54 Clarendon Road Watford WD17 1DU.
Steve Sinnott was himself a Watford resident after he moved south from Liverpool to take up the General Secretaryship of the National Union of Teachers, England and Wales. The new office recognises this link, but, more importantly, very close to Watford Junction station, it places the Foundation just 25 minutes away from central London, with easy access to cities around Britain and to the international airports.
The office will provide a base for the Foundation's Project Director when he or she is appointed later in November.