The Special Correspondence Club
Particpant Quotes:
MUCH WENLOCK
Lydia: I have changed my mind, because I thought that they were just different, that they had nothing the same, but actually, even though they look and sound different, I found out they were actually quite a bit the same.
Joe: I feel more confident about going places and meeting new people now.
Teacher: The project has been an invaluable life learning experience for the children.
Headteacher: I think the children will always remember this.
WOLVERHAMPTON
Nina: I thought that receiving and sending letters was really special. It's different from email and MSN because it takes more time to write letters, and you use different words. Like I use slang normally, but I didn't use slang in my letters. I liked seeing people's handwriting too.
Asiyah: It's made me feel good about myself, and I've realised that people are different. Everybody is not the same.
Teacher: I can't think how the project could have been improved.
Headteacher: I thought the project was brilliant.
...more from the rural school:
Lauren: I thought that black people would like different sports, and loads of things, but they actually think like us.
Rachel: I wasn’t used to talking to other types of people, I was just used to our type of people.
Simon: Doing this project has made me want to meet new people, and find out about their home countries, like getting into the geography part of it.
Rachel: I thought the best thing was when we read the first letters from the other school... If we had more time, I would want to go on a trip to Arthog or somewhere like that with them, or go to watch a Wolves match with them.
Charlie: I have more confidence now.
Annabel: I learnt how to make new friends.
Hannah: It made me feel like when you have the chance to do something, do it!
Oscar: I never knew they were going to be all.. like mostly all.. different colours to us. I thought they were going to be more white people than kind of brown people. That made me feel different. Because they have different opinions and stuff. But they were also quite similar to us.
Katie: I’ve learnt a lot about myself. That I can actually share - the sort of things I wouldn’t share with other people - I can share with you and West Park.
Charlotte: I’ve learnt how to do more things together in a team.
Katie: I’ve learnt how to write good letters!
Niimi: I’ve learnt to pronounce other people’s names, and to understand different accents.
...more from the urban school:
Jaiden: I thought there’d be mountains and lots of different animals. But there were just like normal animals, like sheep and cows and things like that.
Rahim: I think differently now because, I thought of the countryside as just a camping place. But now I’d like to live in the countryside.
Jaiden: We found out what children do in the countryside. Sometimes they play in the woods.
Hristo: I’ve learnt that even if people are far, far away, you can still make friends with them....
Muhammed: ....yes, by writing letters.
Kalsey: At first I didn’t really like writing letters, but now I do. I’ve got excited receiving letters, and like the photos and everything. With an email, you can’t draw a picture, in a letter, you’re writing it. So I like writing now.
Gursharan: First I used to be shy to do drama, but now I’m not.
Maaya: I learned about making friends with other people.
Harris: I’ve learned about being brave.
Avi: I think everyone was really talented.
Hudhaifa: We were all being friends with each other and helping each other.
William: I’m confident now at meeting other schools, instead of being scared or shy.
Jay: It has made me want to find out more about History. Like about Henry VIII. My pen-pal Jack said there was a building in Much Wenlock that Henry VIII had been in. We’ve talked about the wives, but we haven’t talked about any buildings yet that he went to.
Daniel: I discovered different dances, in both schools.
Parminderjit: I enjoyed the Maypole dancing.
Inderpreet: I enjoyed the photography, because we could take pictures of ourselves, and we could take the camera home and we could send pictures of ourselves.
Farah: I found out how to play that blind game – goal ball.
I wanted to find out more about the other children, like what do they like doing, about their personalities.
Kalsey: I’d like to spend more time with the other school, because we only got to meet them twice.
Rishabh: I want to find out more about Much Wenlock Priory.
More from staff:
I’ve definitely learned a lot, which I can adapt to a classroom situation. I’ve just added all these new things – drama games – to what I already do – and am thinking: I’ll have a go at that!
When you’re teaching it’s very rare that you get the chance to watch what the children in your class do. It’s nice to sit back and see them work with someone else, and see how they respond to someone else.
Class teacher, urban school
The project has been an invaluable life learning experience for the children who have found it both challenging and fun.
The children have an increased awareness of the world around them and a new depth to their multicultural understanding. They have had correspondence and in some cases have formed friendships with children outside their social / cultural experience.
Their perceptions of city life have been challenged. They have first-hand experience of the similarities and differences between an urban and a rural school and found mostly similarities.
Class teacher, rural school
One of the things I was hoping the children and staff would get out of it, was a bit of first-hand experience of children who aren’t physically that far away but who come from different ethnic backgrounds some of them and totally different life experiences, or family life histories, if you like. Although there’s a huge range of children in the class here, if we look at ranges of special needs or ranges of behaviours or family circumstances, it’s not very multi ethnic, it’s not very rich, culturally rich or ethnically diverse. So we’re always on the look-out for opportunities to have more than just a token wave at that sort of thing and do something where it’s really sustained and they get below the surface of it and really start thinking about it. So from that point of view, it was a very successful project, I think. Because they were relating to the children from the other school who they liked or they didn’t like, or they had things in common with or they didn’t, and got beyond first impressions.
Head Teacher, rural school
I’ve been really pleased with it.
You could see the enthusiasm in the children. And there was a lot in the project, in lots of different ways, feeding across our school curriculum. I know you had the poet in, the photographer, and you, but apart from that, they had the social component too.
The sessions here were really good. It was more than just building up to meeting the other school.
Head Teacher, urban school