Working together for a brighter future - Breckland Council

FESTIVE FREE
SWIM VOUCHER
This voucher entitles the holder to a FREE
JUNIOR SWIM* admission, valid anytime* on
Saturday 27th, Sunday 28th, Monday 29th
and Tuesday 30th December 2008
Participating Centres are Dereham Leisure Centre and Breckland
Leisure Centre and Waterworld. Please produce this voucher
upon arrival at reception.
*Participants must be under the age of 16
*Offer excludes 2-4pm daily
at Dereham Leisure Centre
The perfect venue for your Christmas
or New Year event. Christmas Parties &
Lunches Available throughout December
Elegant New Year’s Eve Party To include drinks on
arrival, six course menu, dancing & fireworks
Please telephone 01842 878351 for details
or visit www.lynfordhallhotel.co.uk
Meet the young entrepreneurs
Using crayons, paper and scissors,
children in seven Breckland Primary
schools have been experiencing how
business works and the role it plays.
The Young Enterprise Programme
funded by Breckland Council and
Norfolk County Council aims to raise
awareness among young children about
world trade, imports and exports and
understanding where things come
from, such as school uniforms and
everyday items.
The programme is based around
classes using games, activities and role
play to help the children understand
Promoting local democracy to
young people across the district
is a priority for Breckland
councillors, John Labouchere and
Diana Irving. As part of a school
engagement programme the pair
visited Hammonds High School
in Swaffham to encourage pupils
to get involved in the upcoming
Breckland Youth Council.
After a rousing speech from Cllr
Labouchere, pupils were invited to
talk to the councillors about being
involved in a school council and the
contribution they could make to the
Breckland Youth Council.
John Labouchere commented that
the pupils on the school council
“were very interesting and they
and develop skills and capabilities for
the world of work. At the beginning of
each game pupils were split into
teams, ‘richer’ teams such as America
were given a good supply of crayons,
paper, scissors and money whilst
‘poorer’ teams such as Bangladesh
received just a single sheet of paper, a
pencil and limited funds. Ingenuity
flourished with children selling their
labour to other teams, and others
devising ‘mass production’ methods. At
Mundford Primary School, resourceful
Team Tanzania, who started the day
with £30, a piece of paper and two
pencils, were beaten to the top slot by
challenge winners, Team Austria.
Youth encouraged to have more of a say
had varied answers to our quite
searching questions”. This was
echoed by Diana Irving when she
commented “how fantastic it was
to witness such enthusiasm, how
successful a school council is running
and how effective results can be
achieved”.
Students across the district are
being encouraged to take part in a
programme of events leading up to
Breckland’s first youth council next
February. Pupils from five schools
attended the Ecotech centre in
Swaffham to learn more about politics
and citizenship. In the morning the
high school pupils watched a drama,
staged by Solent Peoples Theatre,
that focused on their rights and
responsibilities as young people.
Breckland Executive Member for
Planning and Environment, Ann
Steward, watches the children at
work at Mundford Primary School.
Through taking part in the game,
children gained a greater
understanding of market forces,
learned to work as a team, and were
encouraged to devise innovative
solutions to problems.
Breckland Executive Member for
Planning and Environment Ann
Steward, who visited the Mundford
Primary School session, felt that the
children’s experience had been really
worthwhile. She said:
“This project helped the children
understand inequalities in world trade
and how difficult buying and selling is
for poorer countries. I was impressed
at the children’s ingenuity in finding
ways to make shapes more quickly
and efficiently”.
Breckland Primary schools in Mundford,
Brisley, Ashill, Carbrook, Great
Ellingham, Weeting and Caston are all
taking part in the World Trade Game.
If your school would be interested in
participating in future events, call
Lindy Warmer 01362 656870.
And in the afternoon Breckland
councillors were put under the
spotlight in a question and answer
session, covering topics from
transport to community safety.
Steve Askew, Executive Member
for Communities said; “I think it’s
great for the children to get involved.
It’s important that the council and
councillors are aware of what the
issues are for young people and this
is an important way for the youth to
get that across.”
For more information about the
Breckland Youth Council and how
you can get involved please contact
Cat Lang or Caroline Cox on
01362 656870 or email
youth@breckland.gov.uk.
Breckland Voice Working together for a brighter future
Working together for a brighter future Breckland Voice 5