26th September- European Day of Languages 2016- Interviews

PLS BBC School Reporters interviewed others about the importance of languages and freedom of speaking 'Mother Tongue'

26th September- European Day of Languages presentation-2016

PLS BBC School Reporters' Refugee Week Presentation 2016

Who is a refugee?

 

 

A refugee is a person who is outside of their country of citizenship because they are scared of persecution. Persecution can be on race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion and is unable to obtain sanctuary from their home or country.

 

 

 

Why do people become refugees?

· Wars

· Natural disasters

· Abuse or mistreatment

· Economic reasons

· Famine/poverty

 

How many refugees are there in the world?

Number of forcibly displaced worldwide: 59.5 million

During the year, conflict and persecution forced an average of 42,500 people per day to leave their homes and seek protection elsewhere, either within the borders of their countries or in other countries.

Last year, 51% of refugees were under 18 years old. This is the highest figure for child refugees in more than a decade.

 

 

How are refugees treated around the world?

Groups including the UN refugee agency UNHCR and Amnesty International have urged nations to stop treating vulnerable men, women and children like criminals.

“More refugees need such protection than ever before”, a spoke’s person for the UNHCR said last week. “We need to treat all human beings with respect and dignity. We need to ensure that the human rights of migrants are respected.”

More than 4000 people have died in desperate effort to reach the EU so far this year, but this is what awaits them when they arrive: finger printing, numbering, detention and police.

How can we help the refugees in the UK?

· The best way to help refugees is to donate cash to humanitarian organisations or charities. Cash donations are the fastest, most efficient way to get help to vulnerable people.

· Volunteer to help refugees

 

· Donate clothes / books / toys etc

 

· Offer a free room in your house

· Offer a property that could be used to house refugees

 

· If you are a professional you could help refugees integrate on arrival in the UK

 

· If you have a business and offer an idea that could help

 

· Foster a child

· Local authority or school can look for additional training to help build the emotional resilience of children in government’s care. 

  Famous refugees

Gloria Estefan- Cuban-American

                                                                                          Albert Einstein- German- American

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Omid Djalili - Iranian- British                                                                                           

                                               Rita Ora- Kosovon- British

Ever wonder how a child feels when forced to flee home? Leaving behind your loved ones and prized possessions is a traumatic separation. Here are some clips telling the stories of these refugee children:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UMjSZaMY2Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3scOr_d9Dwo#t=141.1497526 

 

                                                    

       

       

  

  

                          

  

  

 

Refugee Week 2016

PLS BBC School News  Reporters presented in the school assemblies to celebrate The Refugee Week and raise awareness about refugees.

PLS EAL Department also organised Refugee Week workshop. Students designed posters, leaflets and welcome cards.

Here are some photos from the event....

21st March 2016- World Poetry Day- PLS Student Poets

Here are some of PLS student poets reading their poems;

PLS Students love poetry!

Prendergast Arts Festival Presented by GCSE Students of Art and Performance

 Prendergast Ladywell School Arts Festival presented some great talents through GCSE art, drama and music students. The work that every student put in was huge and it was also defined in their work. Prendergast Ladywell School always had amazing artists but this time, the work they did was outrageously beautiful. I personally think that they have a huge gift and appreciate the fact that they are willing to share it with others. So I decided to share the experience they gave us with you.

I chose to ask some of the artists a couple of questions about their work and as I was not able to speak to everyone I chose three people at random as everyone's work had a very powerful message and they all had many beautiful elements in them.

Art on display

 “I wanted to add as much colour as possible to give live to it and describe my personality.”(Gulianna)

“I don’t have to do what others say, I can do what I feel like doing,” (Carolino)

 “It's fascinating to be able to transmit feelings through a pen and a piece of paper.”(Mariya)

 These students worked on these projects for 2-6 weeks. All the work they added was filled with love for art, even if they wanted to add a lot of colours to give their work happiness and life or if they wanted to express a familiar feeling in everyone’s daily life. They all wanted to have their skills noticed and show that you are able to easily express yourself through art. I asked the students that, "If they could change their option of art to something else would they do it?" and all the answers I got were no which demonstrates the passion and call for and from art that they got.

Drama: Dreams and nightmares

They captured everyone's attention with the intro:

“We are free to be what ever we want in our sleep. To fly, to save lives, to dance like no one is watching. But yet, sometimes that which we fear hunts us. Come inside of the minds of teenagers as they move through their night time landscape.”

The students below made me understand the magic of drama.They trained for 5 months and even though people didn’t start confidently they learned over the time how to look confident. The most effective thing in a drama is that you are able to show and feel others' emotions which are a new thing in people's lives. The thing they were  the least stressed about was memorising, and the lights also helped them as they were not able to see the audience. A way the students got over the stress of being on stage was by thinking of superheroes and get out of their life for a second to see the world through others eyes.

 “You don't have to be confident to do drama.” (Ana)

“Drama expresses your feelings and gives you what you need to go as high as you can.” (Azaria)

“Using your body and emotion to recreate a character is something out of the ordinary experience.” (Nakaiya)

“Don’t be scared of nightmares, you can overcome them with dreams.” (Passione)

“Yo don’t have to cry to make it right.” (Ellis)

Magical mystery music

Prendergast Ladywell School musicians did a spectacular job with their performance.They worked on the same songs for almost a year .All students were scared of making mistakes that would affect the rest of the band, not themselves which I find very impressing. They built strong relationships with each other over the time. If a mistake occurred, students would have all carried on singing.The easiest way to get over stress is to look at a spot on a floor or a wall and keep the focus on it.

Sadly it is not going to work in case you are making a speech.

Here are what some of the PLS musicians think about their experience and music in general; 

“I find this experience different, fun and bonding.”(Lucia)

“I want to make people see what I see through music.”(Mia)

“Music is life.”(Jide)

“The beauty of music can be easily discovered through different instruments.”(Praise)

This report is brought to you by PLS BBC School News Reporter Maria in Year 10.

World Poetry Day celebrations at PLS

On Monday the 21st March PLS EAL students celebrated The World Poetry Day. We have organised two poetry writing workshops and helped our student poets to write their own poems.
They have come up with great poems.

You can see the clip below;

It has been a fantastic day and our students proved that poetry is a great tool to express feelings so everyone can write and enjoy poems.

Here are some pics of the day;

10th March- BBC School News Reporters Big News Day

PLS BBC School News Reporters visited BBC Broadcasting House on 10 March for the 10th anniversary of BBC School News Report.
Watch the clip below.
We were also featured on the BBC News - watch the BBC News video - PLS are 8min 20 seconds into the clip.

Here are PLS BBC School Reporters' account of this amazing day;
 

On the tenth of March we went to the BBC broadcasting house. The first thing we did was to listen to the speech given by the Head of BBC. Our tour guide, Kirsty McLean has given us a tour of the Broadcasting House and then we went on our way to drive the desk. Sarah Evans taught us how to drive a desk. Our training included how we could choose music and how we could change the songs. We interviewed Sarah to find out how she got to the stage she is at now. Our other big event was when we did drive the desk live on radio 1Xtra. We interviewed A.Dot and also spoke live on radio. It was a great experience and we have fun.  - by Selena-Year 10

 

I have no words to explain how much I enjoyed the visit we had. I personally had a great experience. Everyone were amazing and so polite. Our guide Kirsty  McLean  was making us feel like part of the family which made my heart melt. We met Sara Evans, who is the person that prepares “the desk” on radio shows before going live. She is the nicest person I have ever met in my life. A. Dot was also fantastic. We went live on the radio with her, it was very stressful  but so exciting! Huge thanks to BBC for the chance they gave us!! -by Maria Year 10

On the 10^th march, we went to the BBC Broadcasting house to meet A. DOT and did activities with many interesting people. Everyone was very nice and considerate toward us. Firstly we met Sarah Evans to learn how to drive a desk. We had so much fun and learned many things. It was a great experience as there was new things we seen. We had the chance to drive a desk and ask A DOT question. She answers about how she started and what she wanted to do with music as it was a dream of hers. Kirsty was our guide and would tell us more about the BBC studio. We also had the chance to see the director of the BBC Broadcasting House. Thank you BBC School Report for inviting us.

By Mariya Year 10

Well done to all the reporters and thank you!