Teachers in Cornwall encouraged to help children learn about the G7
A learning pack has been created ahead of the summit in Carbis Bay
Teachers are being encouraged to help children learn about the G7 ahead of the summit in Cornwall.
Sing2G7 and Truro Prep School have launched a free G7-themed education pack for primary and secondary school teachers and invites children to have their say.
The resources, which include lesson plans and fun activities for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, have been created by teachers for teachers in time for the UK’s hosting of the G7 Summit next week in Carbis Bay.
They are free to download from www.sing2g7.org.
The educational resources follows the release of the Sing2G7 song ‘Gee Seven’, created for the project by Sir Tim Rice and Peter Hobbs. Sing2G7 is inviting singers across the globe to learn, sing and share their renditions of Gee Seven.
“I am really excited to think that schools in Britain, Europe and across the planet will have the perfect opportunity to connect as we encourage our children to consider issues such as leadership, sustainability, and what it really means to be global citizens. Already thousands of voices worldwide have signed up to sing the Gee Seven song and I am thrilled at the possibilities this project presents in uniting children and teachers across the world to make G7 relevant to other children and for children everywhere to have a voice in the event.
“The whole premise of the Sing2G7 project is how do we make the G7 relevant to children and how do we put them and their voices at the heart of the summit. With this in mind we are delighted to share some ideas and lesson plans, and some fun activities, from our school to yours as we approach the G7 Summit. We hope that the lessons stimulate conversation and consider some of the issues that will be discussed.”
Sarah Patterson, Head of Truro School Prep
So far 13,000 young voices worldwide, including pupils in over 150 UK schools, have signed up to sing the Sing2G7 song ‘Gee Seven’.
Co-founders Christopher Gray and Esmé Page expect a similar take-up of the Edu-pack.
"Gee Seven is a great springboard to get young children interested in G7 and to find their voice.
"With this outstanding education pack, teachers can harness that initial enthusiasm and go much deeper into G7 2021 agenda areas, such as Climate Change, the Pandemic and Poverty. This pre-Z generation is more than ready to have its say on those topics and the Edu-Pack opens up an empowering forum for them to do that. All the lessons are ready to go - all a teacher or parent need do is download and deliver."
Esme Page, Sing2G7
"The children really enjoyed the singing and have been talking now about all kinds of G7 issues.
"I want to explore this further with them and the Edu-Pack is a fabulous ready-made resource for us to do this across all key-stages. Our school’s motto is ‘Together we can make a difference,’ and these lessons will enable us to relate this ethos to G7 issues right across the curriculum."
Hilary Tyreman, Head Teacher of Madron Daniel Church of England School, Penzance
"This high quality education pack is a phenomenal gift for all teachers. We hope it will be widely used in our county and beyond."
Rachel Delourme, G7 Youth Programme Lead, Education Leadership Team, Cornwall Council
All resources are provided free of charge but schools who are sufficiently resourced are encouraged to contribute to the Sing2G7 Crowdfunder campaign in aid of UNICEF’s Give the World A Shot COVAX campaign.
About the G7 education pack
The 15 module Education Pack includes lessons exploring G7 2021’s ‘Build Back Better’ core agenda themes with Science and Humanities modules on Climate Change, Vaccines and Fair-trade, reflecting the pressing challenges faced by leaders this year. Under the environmental theme, a Science module on Ground Source Heat Pumps by Sing2G7 supporter, Cornish firm Kensa, makes understandable one of the key green technologies championed by the UK government for wide implementation by the time this generation of primary school children reaches adulthood.
Besides this there are core curriculum subjects which familiarise children with G7 nations and guest countries from a cultural and historic perspective. KS2 English takes a tour around beautiful folk stories from each country while PHSE for KS2 includes a creative exploration of tea and coffee drinking practices in G7 countries. A delightful art module invites children to express their messages to leaders in banner form with teachers encouraged to share pupils’ work online using the #Sing2G7. In a creative cross-subject module, Maths for KS2 provides a ready-made work booklet of graded challenge, practising area calculations based around G7 country flags, from the simple French tri-color to more complex Japanese sun motif flag.
A key part of Sing2G7’s vision is to open early conversations about leadership in young children and to enable them to feel empowered to speak to power on issues that affect their future. To this end, an additional two-lesson module for KS2, created by the Sing2G7 team, invites children to explore what it is to be a good leader, encouraging them to discover and nurture the seeds of leadership in themselves and their peers, imparting a key message that all can aspire to be a change-maker. Leaders in children’s immediate environment are explored as well as internationally renowned role models such as Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg, with her inspiring challenge that, ‘No one is too small to make a difference.’