Tower Hamlets schools on board for ‘Welcoming the World’

In August and September this year the Olympic and Paralympic Flags will be handed over from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. These two Handover Ceremonies officially mark the start of London’s four year Olympiad.

With the eyes of the world increasingly turning to London, the 'Welcoming the World' programme is designed to encourage students in the five Host Boroughs, who are living and studying close to the heart of the London 2012 Games preparations, to document their local area to showcase to the rest of the world.

Approximately 523 pupils from twenty schools in the five Host Boroughs will be involved. The programme has two elements: ‘My World’ – a photography and music project and ‘Our World’ a film and music project.

In Tower Hamlets, one class from Bishop’s Challoner Catholic Collegiate School and Ben Jonson Primary School will work on ‘My World’ with the renowned documentary photographer Gideon Mendel together with photographers Crispin Hughes and Marysa Dowling to create a portfolio of 30 photographs that highlight places, people and objects that are important to the students.

These photography portfolios will then be used for inspiration by a class at Columbia Primary School who will work with talented film-maker Pratibha Parmar (alongside D Fie Foe) and respected music director Mike Dixon on ‘Our World’. Here the students will create a two minute short film and accompanying soundtrack to convey the variety of cultural activities and interests of a specific community in their local area.

Workshops and creative activities will run in the participating schools from 25 February 2008 – 27 June 2008.

The photography portfolios and films will be showcased at a celebratory event for participating schools in July 2008 and a schools event to mark the Beijing Paralympic Games Handover Ceremony in September 2008.

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 and the five Host Borough education leads for 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

- Increase participants’ understanding of the creative and cultural components of the London 2012 Games.

Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee said: 'Welcoming the World is an exciting initiative for local school children to learn new skills and explore the cultural landscape of their local area at a time when it is going through enormous change. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are ‘everyone’s Games’ and the Welcoming the World project is one way local school children can get involved and contribute right now.'

Cllr Denise Jones, Leader, Tower Hamlets Council said: 'The young people in this borough will be lucky enough to have access to Olympic standard facilities after the Games in 2012. Getting the students involved in documenting their journey through this period of change and thinking about what they want the eyes of the world to see in 2012, is an important part of encouraging them to make the most of this once in a lifetime opportunity.'

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. Welcoming the World will create a platform for young people, their teachers and artists to explore models of engagement to express their thoughts and ideas about the city in which they live.'

– Ends –


Notes to Editors

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

2. Schools participating in Welcoming the World project are:

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


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


Newham

Plashet Secondary School, Plashet Grove, E6 1DG

Eastlea Secondary School, Exning Road, E16 4ND

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

3. 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.

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100