'Our World' deals with issues faced on a daily basis by those living in the Developing World

What would it be like if you had to WALK TWO MILES to collect water ever day?

What happened if you couldn’t READ or WRITE?

How do you build your OWN HOME?

What Is An ‘Our World’ Event?

Download the latest PowerPoint here ('right-click' and Save Target As - 75MB file size).

Our ‘Project Manager’, Georgina Varney, has developed this event to allow children to learn about some of the practical issues that children in developing countries deal with in every day life.    This is a ‘hands on’ event, where the children take part in making a shelter to live under, clean shoes, and make paper bags to sell, enabling them to earn money for their family.  There are five sections for the children to take part in, and we will be adding a medical and agricultural element in the future.   At the end of the event, the children have worked out for themselves that for many in this world life is very hard, and so different from our own.  The event encourages the children to think about how we can bring about change in our world.   Depending on the time allocated, we also look at people who are making a difference in some of the poorest areas of the world.

The ‘Our World’ project has been designed for Key Stage 2 children, but is very versatile and can be adapted for all ages, and can also be run as a family event.

‘Kids Keswick’, Jersey 

The 'Our World' event at Kids Keswick 2008 was fantastic, a great learning experience for both the children and adult helpers alike.

It was so great to have an event which not only encouraged the children to think about their world and other children in it, but one which was so hands on allowing them to actually experience some situations which other children face every day.   I pray that ‘Our World’ will be welcomed into many schools, churches and events across the UK.  Imagine the difference that could make to our world!

Mrs Helen Birch, Deputy Head Teacher, The Straits Primary School, "The 'Our World' day organised by Georgina Varney was a tremendous experience for our children.   They were given the opportunity to reflect on how difficult life is for many children in different parts of the world.  The day certainly made them appreciate how fortunate children in this school are.  I would highly recommend the 'Our World' experience day for every primary school".

Mrs O Hughes - Year 5 Straits Primary School Lower Gornal, Dudley, "All the pupils enjoyed these activities very much; more importantly, they were extremely effective as a learning tool.  The numbers involved in the water activity were understandable and using water turned these abstract numbers into reality.  The children were amazed at how much water we waste....so was I!  It made us all want to take steps to be careful with water.   Great for developing awareness of global issues!  An excellent morning! Thanks you".

Mrs A Watts - AST - Red Hall Primary School Lower Gornal, Dudley, "The work-focused workshop, really engaged the children and propelled them into reflecting on the issues they themselves raised.   The workshop appealed to all preferred leaning styles, because the range of activities crossed a spectrum of styles.  Another measure off the success of the workshop, is the quality of follow-up work completed by the pupils; this revealed real empathy.   There were many pathways criss-crossing the Key Stage 2 curriculum.  A great success; please come again".

Mrs Trudie de la Haye – Deputy Head, St John's School, Jersey, "I would like to recommend Georgina Varney to any organization planning in using her sensitive skills and interesting and inspiring ideas with primary children.   Georgina spent an hour with my Year 6 geography class and engaged them in a thought-provoking challenge that promoted interesting discussion and debate on what various agencies might do in a crisis.  The children in my class were able to question each other’s ideas and explore the importance of teamwork and positive ways of working together, in a lively, proactive manner.  I would thoroughly recommend Georgina to anyone who would like to utilise her skills and talent with a group/class of children".

Mrs Libby Taylor - Class Teacher Year 6, Christ Church C of E Primary School, Montpelier Road, Purley, Surrey, "Georgina visited my class 6 children to talk about ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ project.   The activities she offered were exciting for all the children.  There were lots of practical things for them to do like making shelters and polishing shoes.   This ensured that the children remained fully engaged and were able to learn about the lives of other children across the world from first hand experience.  The activities covered a range of learning objects from the year 6 curriculum and added an extra ‘Global’ dimension to PSHE learning".

Our Aim is to:

·        To enable children to have fun whilst learning more about the world they live in.

·        To help the children understand how precious our world is, and how much we take for granted.

·        To help them realise that we can all do something to make a difference in our world, no matter how small it is.

Who Runs The Event?

Georgina Varney,  ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ Project Manager, will be happy to come and run this event for you.  Prior to joining ‘Flame’, she was Pastoral Assistant’ at Godalming Baptist Church, with special responsibility for children.   She has worked with a variety of Charities, and has had the privilege of leading all-age teams on short-term projects to countries such as: India, Nepal, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil and the Philippines.   These teams worked on building: school rooms, medical rooms, churches and running events for local children.

How Do We Find Out More?

For Further details on how you can get involved with ‘Our World’ contact

Georgina – 01384 346562 or e-mail owlandpussycat@blueyonder.co.uk

The workshop can be run as part of PSHE, under the Global Citizenship section of the National Curriculum.

·       ‘Our World’ Workshop

The workshop runs for a minimum of 75 minutes.

·       ‘Our World’ Follow Up Lesson

This Develops some of the issues raised concerning the ‘Developing World’ and its needs.

·       Geography Lesson – ‘Dealing with a Disaster’

The children are put in charge of a country that is in the middle of a disaster.  The children work out what action needs to be taken.

·        Flight 217 

A visit to many areas of the world – looking at culture, and individual countries in the ‘Developing World.’

·        Assembly

A full, or half day can consist of a combination of the above, or the main workshop can be repeated several times for different year groups.

To download our schools leaflet please click here

For further details and costs, contact Georgina: 01384 346562.

Flame Trust – Registered charity number 1008435