Tuesday 25 May 2010

Young people discover Tagd at Valley Comprehensive School

Ruby has been volunteering for UNICEF UK for a few years, here she talks about a project she coordinated with students from a school in Worksop





At Valley Comprehensive School in Worksop a group of year 10 students completed a UNICEF UK project as part of their Diploma in Health, Society and Development.

The students worked hard to raise awareness of issues affecting the world’s children and to spread the word about Tagd, UNICEF UK’s youth website. As part of their diploma the students researched, planned and carried out some small events and the results have been fantastic.

Stephen Smith, the class teacher, said “the opportunity has been brilliant for the students; it’s been a chance for them to become truly engaged in their work and passionate about their studies whilst supporting a fantastic charity”. Not only has their work raised their awareness of UNICEF and issues that affect child rights all over the world, but it has raised awareness across the whole school.

Whilst keeping a video diary to record all their exciting work, the students planned a ‘Tagd Design’ competition and a Tagd outreach session. With the help of loads of stickers and flyers the outreach session really raised the profile of UNICEF with students and made it the top talking point in Valley School! Tagd was also a topic of discussion and thanks to the creative and imaginative minds of the school’s students some fantastic Tags were designed in the competition.
To handle Tagd’s new-found popularity in Valley School, the students held a Signing Up Session, where they set up a classroom and had their laptops ready and prepared to sign people up to Tagd - what a fantastic idea!

But the students didn’t want their work to be only about the fun and games of stickers and competitions; they wanted to make sure that the serious message of UNICEF’s work was heard loud and clear. To this end, they did two presentations for other classes about HIV and clean water which taught other students about the adversities faced by other children and young people across the world, the work UNICEF does to help these children and how the students can be involved through Tagd.

I have been volunteering for UNICEF UK for a few years and coordinated the group’s work. It was a great experience and I hope that this example inspires other students to initiate projects in their own schools and communities - it’s been a brilliant display of hard work, altruism and commitment”.

On another note, I have also set up a UNICEF fundraising group in Sheffield which I am keen for students to be involved with- please visit the groups Facebook page or email us at bethechange10@yahoo.co.uk.

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