2010
MAD Activities
Brooks High | Cambridge Primary | East Derwent Primary | Gagebrook Primary | Geilston Bay High | Herdsmans Cove Primary | Parklands High | Riverside High | Rokeby High | Sheffield School | Smithton High | Trevallyn Primary | Ulverstone High
Project Title: "Take Our World For It" Production
Grade level of students involved: Grade 10
No. of students: 40
Teachers: Sara Humphrey & Julie Howard
Our Vision is for a community where people make change.
Our issues of concern: Global warming, conflict, and animal cruelty.
What we have done: Not all of us knew what global warming was until we watched Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, and now we think that people need to be educated more about this. We also watched Bloody Sunday and learnt about conflict in Northern Ireland, as well as researching the stories of leaders who promoted peace, like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. We created a dramatic production “Take Our World For It”, based around the idea of aliens putting earthlings on trial for three things: what we have done to look after the planet (about global warming); what we have done to look after other people (about conflicts); and what we have done to look after those without a voice (about animal cruelty). We performed our production on a tour of Launceston schools to raise awareness on each of these issues.
“I hope they’ll notice and take initiative themselves to help the environment and not let it be destroyed.” Grade 10 student.
Project Title: Connecting the Elderly
Grade level of students involved: Grade 5/6
No. of students: 75
Teachers: Jenny Dale, Melanie Polglase, and Nick Harper
Our Vision is for a community where everyone can have fun, independently access their needs and feel equally respected..
Our issue of concern: We wanted to get to know the older members of our community and help them because we were concerned that they didn’t always have contact with a lot of people.
What we have done: Three classes came together and we brainstormed ideas about what we were concerned about and what we would like to make a difference to. We came up with a lot of ideas such as animal rights, health, disability and the aged. Once we had looked at the issues and decided which one we would like to focus on, we had to write a persuasive text to try to convince others that this was the most important issue. After this, we all voted on which area we would like to concentrate on. Helping the elderly won – it was a landslide victory and everyone was happy with the choice.
We worked on the project for a few months. To start with, we decided on all the activities we would like to do for our ruMAD? Project and then we were divided into a number of smaller groups, each one having a different responsibility, such as:
- recipe books
- decorations
- letter writing
- goody bags - design and contents
- designing invitations
The highlight for many students was the Culmination Day where elderly members of the community were invited to “a morning of fun” which included morning tea, entertainment and presentations.
“The best thing was seeing the look on their faces and seeing that they actually felt important.”
“It was so good to see that all your efforts had paid off.”
“Everyone was happy...we actually did make a difference.”
According to students, the best part of working on the ruMAD? Project (aside from the Culmination Day) included working with different types of people, working as a team, learning special skills and changing things.
East Derwent Primary participated in Your Home: Our World in 2010, creating two fantastic MAD projects in support of Bahay Tuluyan and other charities. You can read the full story and others on the Your Home: Our World webpage.
Project 1: Swap Party
Grade level of students involved: Grades 4-6
No. of students: 30
Teachers: Melissa Gammon and Melanie Symmons
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about poverty in the Philippines.
What we have done: 4/5 Gammon & 5/6 Symmons worked through the ruMAD? process and decided to help Bahay Tuluyan. After researching the Philippines and learning how affordable it would be to help a child go to school, we organised the first ever Swap Party fundraiser at our school. We presented a play in assembly about how a Swap Party works, and a slideshow to show who the money would be helping. We created 15 posters to advertise the event around the school. Over $60 was raised, which was sent to Bahay Tuluyan, along with letters to begin a penpal relationship.
“We think it’s really good and we hope everybody helps” Grade 5 student
“We know that we can actually make a difference and help the Filipinos” Grade 5 student
Project 2: ruMAD? Mini-Fair
Grade level of students involved: Grades 4-6
No. of students: 150
Teachers: Melissa Gammon, Melanie Symmons, Nina Bestwick, Sharon Norman, and Alie Hawkins
Our Vision is to raise money for our ruMAD? charities through a
fun fair for our students at East Derwent Primary!
What we have done: Building on the success of the Swap Party, we held an ruMAD? Mini Fair on 25 November to raise money for our selected charities: Bahay Tuluyan, Youth BeyondBlue and Bonorong Wildlife Conservation Centre.
The fair was a huge success with student-run stalls including bead jewellery, guess the lollies, fruit punch, fruit kebabs, plants, a bake sale, slime, healthy snacks, popcorn, face-painting, Christmas decorations,
toys, balloons, drinks, and lucky stick, as well as some free activities, like drumming, and a cup-stacking challenge.
A single teacher first ran ruMAD? in his class at Gagebrook Primary in 2005. Now the whole school runs the Program and its implementation has been a textbook model winning the school a 2009 Schools First Impact Award. You can read the full story on the Gagebrook ruMAD? webpage.
These are just their 2010 MAD Projects.
Project 1: Pet Safety
View our PowerPoint Show of this project
Grade level of students involved: Prep - Grade 2 (Units A, B & D)
No. of students: 60
Teachers: Julianne Panckridge, Kirsten O'Halloran, Mathew Nicholas
What we have done: At the start of the year, Units A, B and D got together and discussed the things that we cared about and the things that worried us. We came up with quite a list of issues which we then grouped into 4 areas for our Vision of what we want the world to be.
Our Vision is for a world where…
- We feel safe and loved. We play with our friends and feel happy inside.
- We are clean and healthy inside when we eat fruit and vegetables, and drink water.
- We are happy at school, wear our uniform, and listen to our teachers. We line up nicely, are good mates and help other people when they are in need.
- Our pets play with us and sometimes sleep on our beds. Our pets are safe at home and other people's pets treat us nicely.
The first thing we did was to make a graph of our pets. From this we discovered that in the three classes, we had 16 fish, 41 dogs, 5 mice, 5 lizards, and 27 cats! As most of us had dogs, we chose them as the focus of our project.
We had a special visitor from the Tasmanian Centre for Global Learning who came to tell us about his experience of being attacked by a dog.
Our new friend Jess came with her dog “Chicko” to show us what dogs need to be happy. Chicko gave us a lovely fashion parade of dog outfits that Jess has made for her.
Delta Dogs, including our special friend “Delta Dan” have visited us and taught us about the different ways dogs show emotions. We also learnt how to approach a dog owner and ask if the dog is friendly and permission to pat the dog. We know that we also need to ask the dog for permission by curling our fingers up and letting the dog come to us to sniff our hand. If the dog sniffs our hand, then we are allowed to pat it on the chest. Delta Dan was a good teacher.
We have since been working closely with the Dogs' Homes of Tasmania. We had two visits to the Dogs' Home to learn what they do there and what dogs need to be happy and healthy. We saw Delta Dan again and remembered how to approach dog owners and dogs safely. We held a lucky-dip day at school and raised $50 to spend on dog treats for the dogs at the Dogs' Homes.
We worked together to make a pamphlet about dog safety and care. We included all the important information we had learnt from Delta Dan. This was then put in over 100 letterboxes in Gagebrook.
Jess made a lovely doggy school uniform for us to raffle. We also made lots, and lots, and lots, of Canine Crunchies to raffle.
It was fun cooking them and some of us even tasted one. We worked really hard to make raffle books to send home. And then we drew the winners! Finally, after writing to the Brighton Council asking for a dog rubbish bin and bags for Gagebrook, we finally got a reply. And although we had to ask the Council again, we did eventually get the bin! We are very proud of the work we did on this. And we all enjoyed our walk to the park to see the bin in place. Leeah and Sean cooked us some delicious snags, and we all had a lovely celebration!
Project 2: Poverty - local and global
View our
PowerPoint Show of this project
Grade level of students involved: Grades 1 - 4 (Units H, E & M)
No. of students:
60
Teachers: Sarah Ramsay, Rhea Orchard, Petrina Randazzo, Lia
Jackman
What we have done: Early in 2010, we started ruMAD? by reviewing past projects. We really enjoyed looking at the slide shows that had pictures of us and our brothers and sisters from 2 years ago. Everyone looked really young and smaller! This was good as it reminded us just what ruMAD?
is all about and the topics we had already worked on.
Then we had a couple of Values and Visions workshops to see what we were passionate about and what made us “mad, sad, or worried”. We were able to come up with a Vision for a perfect world.
Our Vision is for a world where…
- The environment is clean.
- Everyone has their own bedroom and a safe home, with electricity, food and water.
- Everyone is healthy and disabilities do not stop people doing what they want or need.
- The community is loving and supportive of those who live in it and everyone works together.
- Animals are treated with respect.
We took a walk to the Centre and saw some familiar faces in the parent group and the computer group that was on that day. We asked Helen how we could help and she asked us to come for regular visits to work in the childcare room, or with the pensioner group. We now have 4-6 students visit the Centre each Monday and Friday to do this!
One of our favourite things this year has been visiting the Gagebrook Community Centre each week to help in the childcare room. It was fun to see the toddlers and play games with them. We learnt about being positive role-models for younger children and the responsibility of caring for toddlers. Some of us knew the children and also the staff from when they help our families. We also got to join in the scrapbooking classes and would like to continue working with the Community Centre next year.The Grade 5/6 students from our school invited us to share an ruMAD? session as they had some ‘homelessness’ resources they thought we would like. We all joined together - 5 classes in all for the session - and worked in small groups. We used the “Dillon the Mouse” booklets from Colony 47. It was great to be working with our older brothers, sisters and friends.
Our global research started with some activities from Caritas prior to our excursion to their “Blueprint for a Better World” exhibition. As a lead up to this we all did an online quiz about poverty. We were amazed at the large numbers of people living in poverty with no food, no homes and no water. Students said, “I didn’t know it was so bad”. We all cheered when we got a question right on the quiz.
The next week was our excursion to the exhibition and a performance by students from Hobart Campus
Students Against Racism called “Living in-between”. This was one of the highlights
for us. It was such fun talking to the students
who all came to Australia as refugees and finding out about their cultures. We learnt to say “hello” in their languages and some games from their home countries. Some of us got to taste their food and we saw their different clothing also. We learnt about being different and that actually we were a lot the same too. The music and dancing was really fun!To help raise awareness of our issue throughout the rest of the school, we decided to hold a Free Rice Day during International Anti-poverty Week in October. For this day, Julia and Wendy cooked us fried rice and we invited students to the computer lab during recess and lunch to answer questions on the Free Rice website. For every question we answered correct, 10 grains of rice were donated to the World Food Program. It was very successful with lots of students participating. We helped them with the website and got lots of questions right. It was exciting to see the grains of rice adding up in the bowl!
We finished the year with a Hat and Hoody Day and a grocery raffle, and decided to use our fundraising money to buy a toilet through TEAR Australia, and two taps for a village water point and tools to dig a well through WaterAid.
Our final event for the year was a visit from d’Arcy Lunn who told us about the Global Poverty Project and all the adventures he has had around the world. d’Arcy was a very interesting person to listen to and we learnt a lot about world poverty and what we can do about it. We really enjoyed ruMAD? this year and look forward to another exciting and worthwhile project next year.
Project 3: Homelessness and Graffiti Road-Show
View our PowerPoint Show of this project
Grade level of students involved: Grade 5 - 6 (Units I & K)
No. of students: 40
Teachers: Steve Robinson and Anita Tujula
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about graffiti, and the plight of homeless youth in Tasmania.
What we have done: This was our fourth year as part of ruMAD? so we were quite familiar and practiced at the way Values and Visions workshops run and how to start down the road of finding a topic for the year. We started off by discussing issues important to us personally and looking at issues in the world that concerned us. This led to a list of ideas. We grouped ourselves depending on which issue we were most passionate about and discussed the pros and cons of the topic. We were then faced with the task of explaining our issue to the other groups and arguing why we thought it was an important topic. This was done over a couple of sessions before a democratic vote took place to narrow down the list.
Eventually we got down to 2 issues: homelessness and graffiti. These were very close in the vote so we decided to start with homelessness and see if we could investigate the graffiti issue also.
We started finding out about the causes and consequences of homelessness in Hobart and Tasmania. The figures of how many people do not have a home each night were staggering. We had a visit from staff and a resident at Mara House and discovered the extent of the homeless youth problem in Hobart. We found out that these people are no different from us and how we could easily find ourselves in the same situations. We visited the Gagebrook Community Centre and helped the organisation, Loui’s Van to make sandwiches that were given out that night.
We went to see ‘Power Hip-Hop’ at the State Theatre in July. We really liked this performance, and enjoyed the music as well as the messages from the performers. These young performers provided an example of how we as a group could relay information and create awareness about homelessness through music.
Our next phase was to divide into 3 groups to each work on a mini project in support of St Vincent De Paul; a soup fundraiser group, a winter coat appeal group (Coatarama), French-knitting group to produce a blanket. We liked being given a choice on the way we helped make a difference and it meant we were all keen about doing the tasks. These mini projects took us over several weeks of Term 2.
Later we visited Youth Arc in Hobart to see what services and facilities were provided to young homeless in the city. This day out also allowed us to look at our second topic of Graffiti when we took a walk to Bidencope Lane to see the street art there. Then we had a visit from Jonny and Ben from Alphabetrix. They are experts in several different styles of street art. We enjoyed the personal interaction with these artists and were keen to show them our own work and begin to develop our own ideas for raising awareness of homelessness through art. We were ready to move onto creating raps and street art about our topic of homelessness.
Some of our group took the chance to visit a Street Art festival that was held on a weekend in August. We loved the festival, especially the opportunity to observe, engage in and experience various street art styles- from stencil making and spray art to song and dance performance.
Some of us got to attend the Youth Action Conference at Rokeby High School, organised by TCGL. We attended 2 workshops each, facilitated by various groups such as Amnesty, Brightside Animal Sanctuary, The Migrant Resource Centre, and Red Cross. We also set up 2 displays about our ruMAD? projects this year. We learned about the Make Poverty History bus tour conducted earlier this year and undertook several MAD activities, including a flashmob. This was a lot of fun and we enjoyed all aspects of the day.
During Term 3 we really swung into action and developed several items to take on a road-show to other schools. The purpose of our road-show was to raise awareness about homeless youth in Hobart and use the skills in street art and rap that we had learnt during the year. Some of our group decided to make a film about the issue to enter in the My State Financial Student Film Festival. This took several months to complete but we got it finished and entered in the competition as well as the road-show.
We were very proud of our entry - you can
watch our film on the Film Festival website!Our media release said: “After a year of research, interviews, excursions, workshops and other learning opportunities during ruMAD?, students feel well equipped to present their information in a way that captivates the audience and speaks to them in a language that is culturally appropriate. Gagebrook students deliver their message through the use of rap songs, drama, street art murals and a short movie which was entered into the My State Film Festival.”
We visited 6 schools (Herdsmans Cove Primary, Cambridge Primary, Bridgewater High, East Derwent Primary, Kingston High, and Gagebrook Primary) with our performances and we were well-received everywhere we went. It has been a busy and productive year and we are very happy with the work we have done. As we go to secondary school next year, we are hoping we can continue with ruMAD? as it is always a worthwhile, engaging and fun part of school.
Project 1: Derwent River pollution slideshow
Grade level of students involved: Grade 7
No. of students: 3 - Daniel, Tarquin and Jess
Teacher: Ms Lou Christie
Our Vision is for a healthy local environment.
Our issue of concern: Litter in our local environment.
What we have done: Daniel and Tarquin were at the Geilston Bay foreshore with a camera and noticed what a mess had been made by all the litter. They took photos of the rubbish and brought it back to class. With Jess’ help, they edited the photos into a slideshow, and presented it in assembly to show people that the environment will be ruined if we keep doing what we’re doing, and to encourage students to help by picking up rubbish.
Project 2: Teenagers all together
Grade level of students involved: Grade 7
No. of students: 10
Teacher: Ms Lou Christie
Our Vision is for a community where teenagers explore all possibilities and everyone can understand us.
Our issue of concern: Bored teenagers, bad opinions of teenagers, and teen pregnancy.
What we have done: This project started in Term 3 after some of us attended the ruMAD? Youth Action Conference at the end of Term 2. We have three MAD groups working on our concerns about teenagers:
- The first group is focused on finding ‘places to go, things to do’ for teenagers. We have designed a survey to find out what the students at our school want to do when they’re not at school, so they don’t get bored or in trouble.
- The second group is planning an awareness campaign or activity to change what people think of us as teenagers. We are imagining a mural that can be moved to different locations.
- Our third group is thinking about how to help teenagers make the right decisions around sex and pregnancy. One of our thoughts is a movie. We may continue this project into 2011.
Grade level of students involved: Grade 7
No. of students: 13
Teacher: Ms Lou Christie
Our issue of concern: Cruelty to animals, particularly chickens kept in small cages.
What we have done: We have only just started this project in Term 3, but so far we have split into three MAD groups to work on different aspects of our Save a Chicken campaign:
- One group is planning a Facebook page with information and photos to raise awareness among our friends about cruelty to some chickens raised for eggs and meat. We want to let Tasmanian politicians know that we’re not happy so we might ask them to join our Facebook group or perhaps send them a petition.
- Another group is planning to raise money to buy chickens back from farms where they are badly treated.
- The other group is looking at art work and perhaps a brochure to advertise the campaign and illustrate the Facebook page.
Herdsmans Cove Primary participated in Your Home: Our World in 2010, creating a fantastic MAD project in support of the Alice Glenister Foundation. You can read the full story and others on the Your Home: Our World webpage. They also found ways to make a difference closer to home, caring for our native wildlife!
Project 1: Poverty and Fair Trade
Grade level of students involved: Grade 5/6
No. of students: 15
Teacher: Victoria Ogden
Our Vision is for a future where everyone cooperates and are respectful to each other, children can learn, we are free to have our own ideas and sexuality and not be judged by others, we belong to a clean, strong, friendly community, and we all have a right to live.
Our issue of concern: We value family, friendship and freedom; our concerns are bullying, crime and cruelty.
What we have done: 5/6 Ogden chose to support the Alice Glenister Foundation as our teacher had a personal link with Alice. The Foundation focuses on helping children in Thailand and south-east Asia. After learning through the Foundation that one of the problems facing children is a total lack of dental care, we decided to collect toothbrushes to send over.
We also learnt about fair trade through the Internet, books and a knowledgeable guest speaker, Laura Sykes. We're unhappy that Nestle’s Milo uses some ingredients made by slavery, so we decided to tell others by making educational posters, and giving a presentation in assembly. Some of us are even thinking about a stall in the mall to raise awareness.
Project 2: Wildlife Rescue Kits and
ruMAD? Fun Day
Grade level of students involved: Grade 4/5
Teachers: Mia Sullivan and Chris Cooke
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about the amount of Tasmanian native animals injured or dying on our roads.
What we have done: We learnt how to make ‘Wildlife Rescue Kits’
which contain all the bits and pieces you need to help save an injured
animal (a calico bag, gloves, string, scissors, a torch, and a material
pouch). We wrote to local shops, who donated enough materials for us to
make 10 kits. Then we held a fantastic ruMAD? Fun Day, where we raffled the kits to raise money for Bonorong Park, along with a sausage sizzle, bake sale, face-painting and other games, like tug of war, soccer, and vortex throwing.
Project Title: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Ad CampaignGrade level of students involved: Grade 10
No. of students: 35
Teacher: Bec Youd
Our Vision is for people to care about the future of the environment.
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about the effects of greenhouse gases.
What we have done: We researched the level of Australia’s emissions of greenhouse gases compared to the rest of the world, and to the Kyoto Protocol. We're concerned that Australia is such a high polluter per capita, and recognise that individuals need to change their behaviour in order to reduce emissions. To raise awareness of what individuals can and need to do, we created ad campaigns – first researching how advertising works by looking at examples of other campaigns. The ads we created included posters, billboard designs, t-shirts, and film. We also printed slogans onto environmentally-friendly items, like calico bags. The messages we created focussed on:
- Energy saving (turning off power-points)
- Reducing waste of resources
- Recycling bags
- Walking and cycling
- Doing it for the generations to come
Riverside High has a strong, student-driven focus on becoming a more sustainable school, thanks to its Environmental Prefects and Green Team, and the students have put their inspiration from the Youth Action Conferences to great use!Project 1: MAD Day
Grade level of students involved: All Grades 8 classes
Teacher: Tim Dunham
What we have done: The Y8 students held an ruMAD? Day, picking our own causes to support. Most of us were concerned about the environment and decided to support Green Peace by raising funds. We created green-themed fundraisers, including a graffiti wall which students could pay to write a message on.
Project 2: Green TeamGrade level of students involved: Grades 7-10
No. of students: 20
Teacher: Leann Dalzell
Our Vision is a more sustainable school.
What we have done:
Bottles: After participating in the Sustainable Living Tasmania workshop at the Youth Action Conference, we decided to make our school plastic bottle-free. We are purchasing aluminium bottles to sell through the canteen, and have applied for a grant to purchase four refilling stations to be located around the grounds.
Litter: We've also reduced the litter in our grounds by installing more bins and a number of 'Do Not Litter' signs, as well as having students take an early lunchbreak to clean up the school.
Garden: With the help of our grounds-keeper we have built and maintain a garden, growing our own peas, beans, parsnips, tomatoes, thyme, apples, and pears. We harvest to orders from teachers and students.
Project 3: Vision Generation Group
Grade level of students involved: Grades 7-10
No. of students: 10
Teacher: Leann Dalzell
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about poverty and fair
trade.
What we have done: Another group of students participated in the Vision Generation workshop at the Youth Action Conference. Georgie and Zeke were inspired to become members of VGen and to form a group at school.
So far, they have supported national campaigns to end child slavery, by promoting Fairtrade products, and to raise the level of Government aid.
At Sidefest (our school festival) the VGen group had a stall selling Fairtrade drinks in biodegradable cups and encouraging fellow students to sign a petition for more aid.
Our action for the environment and for disadvantaged people begins within our school, but will grow into global partnerships.
A large group of Y8 and Y9 students have set themselves the goal of joining a
World Challenge overseas education and volunteering trip in Y10 through Mrs Dalzell’s ‘Do You Want To Save The World?’ class.
Each of us will pay our own way, and we’ve already begun fundraising, so that we can join in projects in Vietnam and Cambodia in 2011, and Costa Rica in 2012.
Teacher, Emma Christian, has relief one day each week to focus on the
ruMAD? program and assist other teachers at Rokeby High to also implement ruMAD?
This has been made possible by a partnership organised by the Tasmanian Centre
for Global Learning - read more on the Rokeby ruMAD? webpage.
Project 1: Child Rights Forum
No. of students: 40 from Rokeby (+ 53 from other schools)
What we have done: On Thursday 15 April 2010, we hosted a Child
Rights Forum at our school. One of our grade 7 classes and a grade 8 class
attended along with students from Lindisfarne Primary and Geilston Bay
High.
During the day the students watched a performance by Bahay Tuluyan
(a non-profit organisation based in the Philippines that empowers street
children to look after themselves), and participated in workshops about Food and Water,
Health, Education, and Work. At the culmination of the day, all students
pledged to further investigate the Millennium Development Goals and
then work with an organisation in a developing country towards achieving
change in one of the goals.
Many of the students were really affected by the experience of the day,
hearing the statistics, being a part of poverty simulations and games,
listening to the stories of the guests from Bahay Tuluyan, being part of the
workshops, and hearing about the day-to-day lives of people living in and
experiencing poverty. One major thing that stuck in the minds of these
students was that they were in fact rich, in the top 25% of the world’s
richest, simply because they lived in a house which had a toilet.
“When the guest speakers did the play and told us how they lived, it
made me feel sad and I wanted to help them, I’m glad ruMAD? helps me know
how I can help.” Gr. 8 Student
Project 2: Concert for global poverty
on October 9th
No. of students: 30 Planning and Organising; 300 attendees
Our Vision is for a community which upholds respect for itself and others, and is a beautiful, safe and friendly environment to live in.
What we have done: One of the classes which attended the Child Rights Forum unanimously decided to focus on MDG 1
(Reducing Poverty), and MDG 2 (Achieving Universal Primary Education for all). After working through each
of the ruMAD? keys, tuning in and brainstorming, the class got to the point where they needed to choose what their end goal would be and the means to achieving that goal.
So the class decided firstly that the key to reducing poverty is through education. They then decided that the best way they could help was to form a partnership with a school in a developing country,
and they spoke with the Global Learning Centre about how to make this
link in Cambodia. However, in the end, the decision was made to
support an organisation that was building a school - the
Tabitha
Foundation.
The students began to think about the best way to help. It took little discussion
to reach agreement that they would put on an underage, drug and alcohol free concert for youths from the local community and the surrounding area.
The class worked tirelessly to get their project off the ground, running mini-fundraisers to contribute towards the cost of the concert, including a free-dress day, a staff carwash, a slave auction and a Guitar-Hero competition.
The students formed their own task forces, one being music and
production, with these students taking charge of contacting bands,
pulling together production and musical needs and setting-up on the day
of the actual concert. The other team was in charge of logistics and
running the concert, including ticketing, money collection, running the
food and drink stalls, decorating and promotion.
The 'Concert4Cambodia' was held on Saturday 9th October. Over 300 students from Taroona, Ogilvie, Dominic, Kingston, Huonville, Rose Bay, Clarence, Sorell, Tasman District, Geilston Bay and Rokeby High Schools and Rokeby and Clarendon Vale Primary Schools packed out the school gym.
Rokeby High students took the stage wearing t-shirts that spelled 'Make
Poverty History', and TCGL, VGen, Oxfam, and Oaktree Foundation had
stalls to raise awareness. Guest speaker, Awak Mathok from
World
Without Boundaries Foundation, spoke about the importance of
education to breaking the poverty cycle; Minister David O'Byrne
congratulated all the students for making a difference. And
concert-goers were entertained by Ross Arundale, Talar Badelian and James, Adam
Swift, Power Hip Hop, Justice Crew, Velocity (RHS band), Grey Scale
(Clarence HS band), Kramer Janes (Claremont College band), Running With
Scissors and Ball Point. It was an amazing event and everyone had a
great time! The event raised over $6000, and was a highlight of 2010.
“The students in my class are so excited about this project! They literally jumped out of their seats and hugged me when we decided on the concert idea and I said we would make it happen! They have been very pro-active and engaged whenever we have had ruMAD? lessons. They seem to only ever want to work on ruMAD? projects!” Emma Christian, Teacher, Gr. 7
“Our school is doing ruMAD?, so this year we are doing a concert for charity. We are doing some little fundraisers to raise money for our concert, and that money will go to a school in Cambodia. And with the concert we have got about 6 bands to perform at the concert. We are doing a car wash, guitar hero, sing star and a slave auction – I am loving it!” Student
“This year we have been doing a big unit on ruMAD? I like ruMAD? ‘cause it teaches us responsibility and teaches us to work together to achieve something big, like on October the 8th we are holding a big concert to raise money for a school in Cambodia.” Student
“I enjoy ruMAD? because its exciting and interesting and we get responsibility for our concert and raising money. ruMAD? is great!” Student
“I like ruMAD? because I find it enjoyable and it has lots of fun things to do.” Student
“Our school has been doing ruMAD? for a long time, our class has been doing it for charity. We are doing some fundraisers to make money for schools in Cambodia.” Student
“This year we have been working on ruMAD? and it has inspired me a whole lot and changed the way I think about poverty and other things. Some people have come and talked to us about their experiences and it has made me think differently about other countries. I enjoy doing ruMAD? projects at school because it’s fun and makes me want to come to school.”
Grade 7 student
“ruMAD? that was what we got asked at the start of the year. No one knew what it meant.
ruMAD? is very important to the kids in our class, we have learnt about poverty and kids who live hard lives. It made us think, “How can we help?” That’s when we decided to make huge things happen. We are planning a concert to help people who are living in poverty. We have to do heaps of fundraisers to start with. We are going to have a link with a school in Cambodia to give the money to.” Student
“I have already noticed increased engagement among students from this class.” Gill Berriman, Assistant Principal
Project 3: Justice Crew Workshops and Performance October 6th - 8th
No. of students: 200 Rokeby High, 760 from 14 other schools
(estimated)
Teacher: Tullia Chung-Tilley
Our Vision is for a community that is safe, beautiful and family friendly with shared spaces for people of all ages to enjoy.
Our issue of concern: The need for more events for youth on the
Eastern Shore, and partnership between communities.
What we have done: The grade 8s decided that, linking in with their vision statement, the students of the local area needed more activities to do, which students of all ages could enjoy. Thinking along these themes, they came up with the idea that if they could get someone ‘big’ like
Justice Crew to come to Tasmania, they could do workshops and a performance, while spreading their messages of hope and increasing
young people’s self-esteem.
After many phone calls and emails to-and-fro, Justice Crew (winners of Australia’s Got Talent) confirmed that they
would come to Tasmania in October and complete a number of workshops over three days
with Tasmanian schools.
Rokeby High School and the grade 8s were 100% the drivers of this Justice Crew campaign, which the Hobart City Council
supported by putting on a performance in the Hobart Mall for the general population, and providing accommodation for
Justice Crew. Prior to our school’s involvement, Tasmania had been left ‘off the map’ for their ‘National Tour’. This shows the power of young people when they are inspired by a program like ruMAD? to create change, for themselves and for others.
The Justice Crew dancers taught students routines in hip hop and break dancing, gave a demonstration of their awesome skills and promoted self-belief and passion. The catering class planned and cooked all their meals for the day which the boys said were delicious and could hardly believe that students cooked it!
The objective of inviting Justice Crew was for the students to
learn how to organise a large, shared youth event and how much more can be
achieved when we work in partnership with others. We also hoped to reduce ‘rivalry’ between students of different schools so that when they see each other in the street they can say 'hi' instead of feeling competitive and anxious. And
our grade 8 students came to understand that dreaming 'big' is healthy, and
learnt how to set goals and how to work together to achieve them.
Reach for the stars and you may land on the moon…
“One student in particular does seem really engaged by the Justice Crew project. He has come out of his shell a bit... The group of girls working on the MDG side of our project have really absorbed a lot of the facts from the Blueprint for a Better World exhibition
we visited on an excursion. This shows that they were really affected by the gravity of some of the statistics that were introduced to them” Teacher, Miss. Chung-Tilley Gr. 8
“Rokeby High has been working on ways to raise money to help the poor. So we had a fun day where we had stalls like face painting, wet the teacher, apple bobbing. Another student and I were working in the school courtyard and we won the sustainability award. We are still working on ways to help. Also there were a couple of people came to our school to talk about how we can make a difference and 2 people did a play about how they were treated. When the quest speakers [the street children from the Philippines] did the play it made me feel sad and I wanted to help them.” Student
Project 4: National Tree Planting Day
No. of students: 200
What we have done: A total of 100 native trees and bushes were planted around the school, some as wind breaks for our sports oval, some in our water-wise garden and some as habitat for native wildlife. A large percentage of last year’s plants have survived and have shown good growth, so
– coupled with this year’s efforts – we are making a fantastic contribution to beautification of the local community and to the environment.
Last year’s National Tree Day was fantastic, and we've continued
building on the community networks from last year, involving the local primary schools, parents and friends, Clarence City Council, Forestry Tasmania, and all Rokeby High staff and students.
We're also celebrating our past achievements and demonstrating that we can
make our beautification project sustainable.
“It was great fun planting the
trees at the High School! I got to dig some holes, and then we all got
balloons and even went on a tour of the school!” (local
primary school student).
Project
5:
Harmony Cup Soccer Challenge
No. of students: 30
What we have done: We again invited Cosgrove High students, many
of whom came to Tasmania as refugees, to visit our school to play soccer. We
wanted to promote team building and leadership skills while also providing
an opportunity for students to socialise and form positive relationships
with students from other communities, local and global, through a common
interest: soccer.
This year grade seven students had the opportunity to be a part of the
Harmony Cup as part of our ‘Healthy Living Expo’ Day.
“Do you know what the proudest moment of the day was? When at the end
of the game I overheard some students asking what the final score of the
game was, and the reply came ‘I don’t know!’. I later heard students who
actually played the game asking the same question! What came out of that
game was not a final score, a number, but a spirit of fun, and friendship –
that is something that cannot be measured in numbers.” Teacher, Peter
Veness
Project 6: Courtyard Development
No. of students: 30
What we have done: We have developed a courtyard as
an alternative learning environment and a place to share ideas. This project
was initiated in 2009 and continued into 2010.
Some of the key factors in the courtyard’s development were educating to create a sustainable future, providing a space for all people to share ideas and wisdom, creating a tranquil space for reflection and an alternative classroom for integrated units of work such as art/science and math/SOSE.
In 2009 a community art piece was started and in 2010 it has been expanded to almost cover the courtyard. Plants that have been grown from seed
have been harvested, and new gardens have recently been planted. Elmo and Cookie the chooks have settled in and are loving the shade provided by the new roof.
Grade 8 students, who were leaders last year, have taught students from this year’s grade 7 group the various jobs involved in the upkeep of our school and community courtyard.
This is an ongoing project that, with each new year group and new partnership formed, will continue to grow and prosper, benefitting future generations of Rokeby High School students.
Project 7: Sports leaders assisting at local primary schools
No. of students: 10 girls coaching netball, 10 boys coaching
football, 20 students each from two different Primary Schools
What we
have done: As a follow on from our work in the community and a desire to
create more activities for youth, while also promoting healthy living, small
groups of students walked to two local Primary Schools on a weekly
basis and coached both netball and Aussie Rules football. The students have
formed relationships with the students they coached, and learnt valuable
leadership skills.
Project 8: RSPCA National Cupcake Day
No. of students: 15 mentors from Rokeby High School, 8 mentees from Clarendon
Vale Primary School, 7 mentees from Rokeby Primary School, 10 catering students from Rokeby High School
What we
have done: On the 16th of August this year, two groups took over
our school kitchen to make as many cupcakes as they could! The Peer Mentoring group of 30 students
made cupcakes to sell at the two
primary schools,
and the catering group made “a truck load of cupcakes” to sell within our school.
Our goal was to make at least $200 to give to the RSPCA!
Project 8: MAD Fair Day
No. of students: our whole school!
What we have done: The year finished with a MAD Fair Day, attended by
families and neighbouring schools - Clarendon Vale, Rokeby, and John
Paul II Primary Schools.
To raise money for a community café at Rokeby High, students from all
classes designed stalls, including:
- Food - spaghetti bolognaise, baked potatoes, and sausage sizzle
- Drinks - milkshakes and slushies
- Books sales
- Wet the teacher
- Apple-bobbing
- Guess the jelly beans
- Minute to win it
- Art attack
- Cheer-leading
- Jumping castle
- Petting zoo
Project Title: Child Rights Expo and Craft SalesGrade level of students involved: Grades 9 & 10
No. of students: 90
Teachers: Kate Haberle and Gillian Schroeter
Our issue of concern: Child rights.
What we have done: We invited two guest speakers to share their experiences with us: Louise Ellings, who works to improve the health of people living in Happy Village in Cambodia; and Stuart Kent, who has worked in Cambodia, South Korea, and Colombia. This began to open our eyes to some human rights issues, and we wanted to make change by holding an expo. We did our own research - each of us picked a country to study, from all around the world. We all created educational posters that had a map of the country, its leader and population, as well as ten facts about child rights, a case study of child rights abuse, and how developed countries have contributed to the situation. We also had to find one thing from our country that we could make or sell, for example:
- Chai from Kenya
- Chocolate slice from Ivory Coast
- Hommus from Iraq
- Henna art from Somalia
- Donuts from Lebanon
- A whip from Afghanistan
Smithton High students participated in the Your Home: Our World Child Rights Forum in 2010, before sending a 'MAD Team' of 11 students and 2 staff to Vietnam to make a very big difference. You can read the full story and others on the Your Home: Our World webpage.
Project Title: MAD Team Trip to Vietnam
Grade level of students involved: Grade 10
No. of students: 11 in the 'MAD Team', and 12 who participated in the Youth Action Conference.
Teachers: Nick Hill, Christine Blake, and Sue Heart
Our issue of concern: Poverty in Vietnam and Thailand. We wanted to experience extreme poverty first-hand so that we can make a difference in some way.
What we have done: 11 students, forming the ‘MAD Team’, went on an exposure trip to Vietnam for two weeks, from 29/8 – 12/9. Having initially raised money for TEAR Australia to pay for a well, education and health care, students felt that ‘to really make a difference on poverty we needed to experience it’. The MAD Team made community presentations around Circular Head and asked for donations. They did face-painting, sausage sizzles, and a poker run, raising $32,000 in total. In addition, $2000 was raised from a Thai dinner, which was used to support poor students in Thailand.
In Vietnam, students met people who were generous towards them, were happy in spite of having little, and who helped each other out. They also met people whose problems included parents not able to afford to look after their children, and having to leave them to orphanages. The MAD Team visited three orphanages (Home of Affection, Tam Ky Baby Orphanage, and the Hoi An Orphanage) and gave their time, love and gifts collected from the school community (soft toys, sports equipment, soccer tops, balloons, stickers, pencils). They also visited the Social Support Centre in Da Nang, and learnt that elderly women were always falling over in the run-down bathroom, and so they donated funds to help fix it up.
Believing in the power of education, they paid the 2011 costs for four Year 10s like themselves, and bought bikes to allow them transport to school. Visiting the High School in Nam Giang, they met Geoff Shaw of Project Indochina. The MAD Team will partner with him to improve the student accommodation, which is overcrowded, unhealthy, and sometimes has just a tarp for a roof, but is currently the only option for highland students who want to continue education.
We also have a concern for animal welfare, having participated in the Brightside Farm Sanctuary workshop at the Youth Action Conference, and would like to screen the video we watched in the workshop for all our students to see.
Grade 4/5A at Trevallyn Primary School have really made a difference!
On Tuesday, August 17, Grade 4/5A's ruMAD? (are you Making A Difference?) project, detailing their vision for a better world and the activities they have planned and undertaken, was featured in The Examiner Newspaper. To read the story go to the Tamar Times website.
Grade level of students involved: Grades 4 - 5
No. of students: 26 (working in 6 groups)
Teachers: Peg Smith and Janine Davis
Our Vision is to live in freedom and peace in a world where we can spend time with family, friends and loved ones and have shelter from the elements. We want to be able to play and do the things we love like drawing, creating things and playing music.
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about health, the environment, and poverty.
What we have done: We are working in 6 small groups on different issues. We all spent 2 weeks researching and planning, 2 weeks running our projects, and
then 2 weeks evaluating and celebrating having made a difference.Project 1: Healthy Food Group
To encourage better eating than sweets and junk food, we prepare and sell cheap, healthy alternatives. We sell cups of fresh fruit and bags of popcorn for 50c at recess. We are giving the money we raise to the Red Cross.
Project 2: Daily PE Group
We want to encourage exercise at lunchtime by making it fun. We've made 2 posters promoting daily PE to display in the library. We surveyed the other students to find out what sports and activities they enjoy most and have led these the last ten days. They include the Beep Test, skills and games, dodgeball, running, basketball, and Catch the Flag. We've also made certificates for everyone who took part, to encourage them to keep active.
Project 3: Bahay Tuluyan Group
We want to help children get off the streets in the Philippines so they can be loved, sheltered and free to do the things they like. We made donation boxes with pictures of the Bahay Tuluyan van which helps children, and asked businesses to help us collect donations in these. We also held a free clothes day at school, and have raised over $360 to help Bahay Tuluyan help street children.
Project 4: Mental Challenges Group
We made giant draught pieces, mega memory cards with big photos, and aprons with noughts or crosses on them. Then on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we would use these to run lunchtime activities for grades Prep - 6 that got everyone exercising their brains!
Project 5: Second Bite Group
Anna Flittner spoke to us about Second Bite, who pick up the food from Hobart supermarkets that would normally go to waste and distribute it to charities that feed the poor. When we learnt there is no Second Bite in Launceston, we wrote a letter and a survey to send to Launceston supermarkets, asking questions about the food they throw out, and if they would be interested in donating instead. We also made posters to encourage food donation, not waste.
Project 6: Litter-free Lunch Group
We are concerned about our world and how much land-fill we are putting into our environment. We've had two lunchtime litter clean-ups. We made posters to educate others
about why we need litter free lunch boxes, and a hand-out to go home about 'nude food' without wrappers. We also decided to run a competition for all classes, to see who could create the least amount of rubbish, and made a certificate for that class.
On 29th October, Ulverstone High was awarded the Central Coast Chamber of Commerce Environmental Award in recognition of ‘best environmental practice’ (beating seven businesses to win the award!) They look forward to going even further next year, when they will have a new Science Centre, and a wind turbine on campus!
Project 1: Lower Emissions Schools Summit (LESS)
Grade level of students involved: Primary and secondary students
No. of students: 6 schools
Teacher: Kylie Waters
Our issue of concern: We are concerned about the effects of greenhouse gases.
What we have done: For the third year, we’ve hosted our interschool LESS Summit to promote school action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Every year, schools share what they have done since the last Summit – it’s great to know how we’ve inspired and encouraged each other to make a difference (East Devonport Primary had created a school garden, and organised a tour of the Veolia
Environmental Services plant).
This year, we had 6 schools participate, and the theme was ‘Arts and Recycling’. We had some hands-on workshops with our artist-in-residence, making
art out of items that are normally discarded. Our guest speaker was Ben Kearney, who led the campaign to ban plastic bags from Coles Bay, and showed us the change that one person can begin.
We also had a very successful Swap Party, seeing so many of our un-needed
toys and belongings get a second life with a new owner!Project 2: Sustainability Group
Grade level of students involved: Grades 7-10
No. of students: 100
Teachers: Emma Haywood, Kate Reynolds, and Kylie Waters
What we have done:
The group has led a number of activities in the school, approaching sustainability from as many angles as we can:
- Collecting the school's white paper recycling
- Discovery Ranger visits
- Paper-making
- Light-switch signs
- Earth Day
- Adopting a tiger at Australia Zoo; and
- Tree-planting
Ulverstone High students also participated in the Your Home: Our World Child Rights Forum in 2010, with some creating a MAD concert to support the Malighat School and Orphanage in India. You can read the full story on the Your Home: Our World webpage.