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on Tuesday 6th May at 7pm The English School’s Global Per-
spectives IGCSE Class, an eleven –member team, hosted a very
successful screening of the ground -breaking film “Girl Rising”
The screening took place in the Lecture Theatre of the Science Building
after 3 weeks of intensive campaigning and preparation by the fifteen
year-old students. Global Perspectives is an inspiring new IGCSE by
Cambridge Examinations Board
which gives students the opportunity
to engage in global issues and consider how these issues affect us on a
personal, local and global level. It encourages students to be informed,
responsible and ac ve ci zens in both their communi es and in the global
arena. The students had recently completed the Topic “Educa on for All”
where they had engaged in issues rela ng to Educa on as a Human Right
and learned about the goals, and obstacles, to educa on as well as in-
equali es in
both access to, and the quality of, education across the
globe. Their research gave them the opportunity to learn about the Girl
Rising Global Campaign and they were determined to get involved and
make a difference.
Students became active campaigners; they produced their own short
film promoting the screening event and outlining the major obstacles
to Girls Education across the globe. They engaged in other promotional
activities, including putting up posters and banners to arouse interest.
They produced “T” Shirts which they wore at school the week before
and their own invitations and power points which they presented to
classes and sent to friends and peers via social network sites and
emails. They had endless discussions with their peers about why Girls
Education was so important and the issue of gender inequality. They
undertook fund-raising activities and produced attractive jewellery,
cakes, and muffins which they sold during the interval and prior to the
screening.
The Students managed to raise awareness and the compassion of the
community. Despite the fact that there was no entrance fee to view the
film, they raised € 850 from sales of merchandise and donations that
were left in a donation box at the end of the film. The funds will go to-
wards targeted projects to promote educational opportunities to vul-
nerable children through the humanitarian organizationWorld Vision,
which was hosted by the English School to show the film.
Girl Rising tells the unforgettable stories of nine girls living in the poor-
est parts of the world who strive to overcome insurmountable obsta-
cles in order to realise their dreams. If the barriers to Girls Education
could be removed including domestic abuse, slavery, bonded labour,
sex trafficking, early and forced marriages, then girls would have
greater chances of realising their dreams and escaping cycles of
poverty.
The screening was a great success. The Lecture Theatre was packed
with people of all ages, grandparents, parents, children and teens, men,
women, boys and girls, people from diverse cultural backgrounds; all
united in their compassion and fervent belief that every girl has the
right to go to school and the right to reach her full potential.
There was absolute silence throughout the 90 minute film, which was
both powerful and moving. It demonstrated how the power of story-
telling can be used to build a global community as well as a local com-
munity and even a school community!
The Citizenship/ Global Perspectives Teachers in charge were very
proud of their students whose efforts, inspiration, and exceptional
team-work demonstrated just how much can be achieved when stu-
dents are inspired to make a difference and given guidelines and sup-
port. Mr. Petros Florides, Executive Officer for World Vision Cyprus,
was extremely impressed with the level of enthusiasm and organiza-
tional skills shown by the students who pulled off such a successful
event.
The Student Campaign is not over yet. The next steps involve support-
ing a Cyprus-wide petition calling on the government of Cyprus to
champion the issue of Girls Education on the International stage.
Through these activities students have learned how to be responsible,
active and democratic citizens and have accumulated the knowledge
and skills to improve their communities and the world.
The event was supported by the ESPA (English School Parents Associ-
ation).
Reports by Maria Asvesta
Student Activities & Events
During the course of the lesson in Education for Democratic Citizenship
the students in year 1 had the opportunity to explore the importance of
“Goi Green”
in their immediate school community within the topic
“Rights and Responsibilities”.
The idea behind this initiative was to inspire students to take an active
and responsible role in improving their environment and the school com-
munity; to promote respect for each other and the environment thereby
maintaining a clean, safe and attractive space for teaching and learning.
The goal was to raise awareness among our students of the many simple
and routine actions that we can take to help improve the environment at
a school level, local level and global level.
The longer term target, however, is to work towards meeting the specifi-
cations required to be awarded the
“Green Flag“ / “Eco- Friendly
School”
Award from the European Community.
The Citizenship teachers designed seven different projects that all to-
gether were part of the initiative
“ES Goes Green’’
. These seven different
projects were based on the following themes: infrastructure; adverts and
signs, art, social media, videos, performances and finally logistics. Each
class teacher was responsible to coordinate and guide the project of the
class that he/she was in charge of and ensured that her class was aware
of the aggregate goal - although each class was designated a separate proj-
ect, they were all part of an interrelated bigger initiative.
The whole project was presented at the school on Sunday 18th May in the
morning. Each class had the opportunity to present what they had
achieved in their Citizenship Project Based Learning this year to parents,
staff and students. Students took the initiative, with the help of their Cit-
izenship teachers, to arrange a Futsal tournament, they organized a fash-
ion show with recycled clothes that they had made, displayed
creatively-designed bins with plastic bottles, displayed artwork with re-
cycled materials and also presented drama performances and videos.
The morning culminated with a memorable tree-planting outside Lloyds
at which students, parents and grand-parents all “mucked in “– literally!
The event was very successful and thoroughly enjoyed by all the parents,
staff and students who attended. In addition to achieving the desired ed-
ucational outcomes and goals, it was a super community building occa-
sion. We are very proud of the children’s achievements and for their enthusi-
asm and hard work. Through this initiative our Year 1 Students have be-
come informed, responsible and active citizens and have developed the
skills required to improve their communities as well as the communities
of future generations.
If you would like to know more about the
ES Goes Green Initiative
and the projects of each class please visit our website:
http://esgoesgreen.weebly.com/
ThE ENGlISh SChool
GoES GREEN
GIRl RISING
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