Being a Specialist Language College is about equipping our students with an understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the global community. Students explore global issues such as fairtrade, the environment, human rights and conflict resolution through special Global Citizenship Days and specific projects, as well as through the regular curriculum.

Drawing upon the very successful work of the school’s former Amnesty International group and PeaceJam group, the Global Justice Group meets regularly. Inspired by the work of both organisations, members of the group lead the student body in putting global citizenship into action by lobbying for social justice, raising awareness of human rights abuses, fundraising and encouraging others to take direct, peaceful action. The group holds Affiliated School Group membership with Amnesty International, and representatives from the group attend PeaceJam UK events at the University of Bradford.

The group is student led and supported by our International Co-ordinator, Gena Anson. Students have led a series of assemblies, which have served to recruit new members to the group.

Members of the Global Justice Group have attended several PeaceJam UK Youth Conferences at Bradford University, where they have been inspired by Nobel Peace Laureates including Jose Ramos Horta, Betty Williams and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

During our PSHE days, among many issues, students have learned about the plight of child soldiers, contributing to the Red Hand Campaign and worked on the Send All My Friends to School campaign, highlighting the rights of every child across the world to get an education.

We have also taken part in the Handicap International land mine and cluster bomb campaign.

Our work in this area was recently recognised by us being asked to consult on a toolkit to help other schools teach global citizenship issues.