With the eyes of the world increasingly turning to London, ‘Welcoming the World’ has encouraged students in the five Host Boroughs to document their local areas to showcase to the rest of the world. Some 460 young people from 19 schools, aged from eight to 15-years-old, have taken part in the project which has two elements: ‘My World’ – a photography and music project and ‘Our World’ a film and music project. The project began in February and the pupils have worked with leading experts in film, photography and music including photo-journalist Gideon Mendel, film director Pratibha Parmar and music director Mike Dixon.

The young people will unveil their work today after a morning of group activities which include:


Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee said: 'We want the London 2012 Education Programme to inspire young people to get involved in the Games and reach their potential, in whatever context that may be. As ‘Welcoming the World’ demonstrates, the London 2012 Games are not just about a fantastic summer of sport: increasing young people’s understanding of the creative and cultural components of the London 2012 Games is an important part of our work.'

Cllr John Fahy, Greenwich Council Cabinet Member for Culture and the 2012 Games, said, 'The prospect of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games has captured the imaginations of young and old across Greenwich and the other Host Boroughs. This project has encouraged young people to reflect on what it means for them and their community to be hosting such an enormous world event.'

Steve Moffitt, Director, Creative Partnerships London East and South commented: 'Creative Partnerships is pleased to be working with LOCOG to explore ways in which schools can engage with the exciting opportunity that London hosting the 2012 Games presents. The project has brought increased understanding of where pupils live and how they may welcome the world to east London, creating and building upon friendships between young people across the world.'

– Ends –

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com. Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog. 

Notes to Editors:

1. The five Host Boroughs are the London Boroughs of Newham, Greenwich, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets.

2. The venue for the celebration event is Hangar Arts Trust, Unit 7A, Mellish House, Harrington Way, SE18. The event runs from 11am – 2.10pm with group activities taking place in the morning. The speeches and showcase of pupils’ films and photography will begin at 1.15pm

3. Pictures from the celebration event are available on request.

4. Schools participating in the ‘Welcoming the World’ project are:

Greenwich
James Wolfe Primary School, Randall Place, SE10 9LA
Windrush Primary School, Bentham Road, SE28 8AR
Plumstead Manor School, Old Mill Road, SE18 1QF
St Ursula’s Convent School, Crooms Hill, SE10 8HN

Tower Hamlets
Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School, Hardinge St, E1 0EB
Ben Jonson Primary School, Harford Street, E1 4PZ
Columbia Primary School, Columbia Road, E2 7RG

Hackney
Skinners’ Company’s School for Girls, Mount Pleasant Lane, E5 9JG
Kingsmead Primary School, Kingsmead Way, E9 5PP
Berger Primary School, Anderson Road, E9 6HB
Rushmore Primary School, Elderfield Road, E5 0LE
Millfields Primary School, Hilsea Street, E5 0SH

Newham
Plashet Secondary School, Plashet Grove, E6 1DG
Colegrave Primary School, Henniker Road, E15 5JY
Eleanor Smith Secondary School, Lawson Close E16 3LU
Lathom Primary School, Lathom Road, E6 5JG

Waltham Forest
Willowfield Secondary School, Clifton Avenue, E17 6HL
Rush Croft Sports College , Rushcroft Road, E4 8SG
George Mitchell Community School, Farmer Road, E10 5DN

5. Creative Partnerships London East and South were established as two of the first 16 Creative Partnerships areas in 2002, delivering programmes in schools in Hackney, Islington, Newham and Tower Hamlets (East) and Greenwich, Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark over a four year period. In April 2006 the two areas merged to form one Creative Partnerships area delivering a joint creative programme in eight boroughs. Creative Partnerships London East and South is based at Discover in Stratford.

6. The lead artists on Welcoming the World are:

Film: Jonathan Charles – D Fie Foe and Pratibha Parmar – Kali Films
Photography: Crispin Hughes – Photo Fusion and Marysa Dowling – The Photographers’ Gallery
Photojournalist: Gideon Mendel – Gideon Mendel Photography Ltd
Music: Mike Dixon – Mike Dixon Music Ltd.

7. London 2012 is involved in an international sport development project, International Inspiration, which is being developed and shaped by UK Sport, the British Council and UNICEF amongst others. This programme is piloting in Azerbaijan, Brazil, Palau, Zambia and India. The Welcoming the World postcards will be distributed by the British Council to young people involved in the project in those countries.

8. Welcoming the World is taking place during SHINE week, the new National Schools Festival designed to celebrate talent in every young person. Thousands of events are taking place in schools across the country, with around 1 million young people involved. To complement this week’s events, students have been uploading video, audio, images and text on a ‘virtual wall of talent’ at www.shineweek.co.uk during the last six months.

• Working with West End music director Mike Dixon to learn a song of celebration which has been written especially for the event. The young people will perform the song together at the end of the day;
• Creating postcards with writers and cartoonists to send to other young people in Palau, Azerbaijan, India, Brazil and Zambia to welcome them to their world. The postcards will have a reply section to encourage a dialogue and help young people around the world to learn from each other;
• Planning Paralympic Handover celebrations to take place in their school on 17 September this year.

Photo-journalist Gideon Mendel and the film director Pratibha Parmar will outline their roles in the project. The event will be compered by TV presenter Zoe Tyler.

The ‘Welcoming the World’ project is funded by Creative Partnerships London East and South and has been devised by them, the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) and the Five Host Borough Education leads for the London 2012 Games.

The project is designed to:

• Further students’ creative planning, photographic, story-boarding, filming and editing skills;
• Engage students to consider what they, as residents of a host borough, want to show the world about their local area; and to
• Increase participants’ understanding of the creative and cultural components of the London 2012 Games.