Summary Report
A gallery of photo's taken by staff and students can be found here.
1. Participants:
Students, all from Year 13:
- Charlotte Gower
- Sarah Rymer
- Robyn Griffin
- Emelia Ridgeway
- Julia Gaskins
- Natalia Weglarz
- Rutvi Patel
- Vicky Miller-Halliday
- Lauren Cyster
- Peter Woodward-Court
- Robin Shields
- Alex Huggins
Accompanying Adults
- Bonita Bridges, Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education Coordinator, Waddesdon Church of England School
- Peter Norman, Headteacher, Waddesdon Church of England School
- Leslie Stephen, Director of Education for the Diocese of Oxford
2. Collaborating Organisations
3. Pre-Visit Activities
All participating students were required to contribute the following to the official visit booklet:
- An autobiographical article
- A research article based on one of the following: Indian culture, history, geography, economics and politics
Students were also asked to prepare a lesson which they would deliver to students in a school in India and to put together appropriate resources.
4. Activities
- Saturday 17th October:
- flights to Chennai via Mumbai
- Sunday 18th October:
- staying at Madras Christian College, Chennai. Visit to the city centre to see the Diwali celebrations
- Monday 19th October:
- travel to Trichy by coach (5 hours approx)
- visit to the Centre for the Rehabilitation of Blind Women, Trichy, where women are taught skills for living and for employment
- reception hosted by the Trichy Rotary Club, where students presented about our visit and responded to questions from the club members. The students met business leaders and entrepreneurs and asked questions about the Indian economic boom, the rapidly developing middle class and the challenges faced by the Indian Government and business community in meeting the challenge of widespread poverty and inequality
- Tuesday 20th October:
- Students attended a lecture at Bishop Heber College (BHC), delivered by the Head of Chemistry, on the variety of religious traditions in India
- Students met with Indian undergraduates studying Social Studies and English Literature at BHC and discussed in small groups their studies and aspirations and the differences and similarities between Indian and British culture and education. As a whole group they discussed possible solutions to global challenges such as climate change, world poverty, international terrorism, overpoulation and global warming
- In the afternoon the BHU students put on a cultural extravaganza including singing, dancing and mimicry. Our students were taught how to dance in the ‘Bollywood’ style!
- Wednesday 21st October:
- Visit to an orphanage near Trichy, run by The Breakthrough Trust (India), a UK registered charity whose aim is ‘breaking the cycle of poverty through education’. The orphanage provides education, board and lodging for approximately 150 mainly Dalit (Untouchable) children of primary and secondary age. The trust also supports girls in staying on in FE and HE and provides grants for HE students. Our students taught small groups of children and took part in routine activities such as games and school sports. The children put on a demonstration of music and dance for us
- Shopping in Trichy
- Thursday 22nd October:
- Visit to St John’s Vestry Anglo-Indian School, Trichy, a coeducational independent school for 3,000 fee-paying students aged 5 to 18. Our students took part in an open-air assembly, visited lessons, toured the school and participated in small group and one-to-one discussions about cultural differences and similarities with similar-aged students from St John’s Vestry School
- Meeting with MBA graduate students (Masters in Business Administration) at BHC. Students held small group and whole group discussions with MBA students on issues related to business, commerce, economics and politics
- We all participated in a live, video-conferenced assembly with students in the Hall at Waddesdon. We were hosted by a contact we made at the Rotary Club, who runs a multinational IT company in Trichy
- Visit to Sri Ranganathaswami Temple, Trichy, the largest temple in India and the largest operating Hindu temple in the world, at 156 hectares
- Shopping in Trichy
- Friday 23rd October:
- Visit to the College of Classical Indian Music and Dance, Trichy. Here, the students observed and participated in lessons in various Indian classical musical instruments and in dance. They were able to discuss the significance of music and dance in Indian culture and religion, learning for example, that entertainment only makes up a very small proportion of the purpose of Indian dance and music. The significance is mainly related to the stories and spirituality that the music and dance illustrate. The Indian students were mainly graduate specialists. The college frequently sends its dancers and musicians on tour across the world
- Visit to a school for deaf mute children in Trichy, run by the Roman Catholic Church. Students observed lessons and interacted with the Indian students. One of our students, Rutvi Patel, donated money from her family (a tradition at Diwali) to buy an additional computer for the students’ use
- Evening reception and meal in the gardens of BHU with university staff and students who had worked with us during the week
- Saturday 24th October
- Return to Madras Christian College, Chennai, via the orphanage and a private Indian Ocean resort used as a retreat by the Scripture Union, courtesy of our businessman friend from the Rotary Club
- Sunday 25th October
- Return to Waddesdon via Mumbai and Heathrow
5. Future Plans
We are planning to take the participating students to Liverpool Hope University in the summer, to attend a weekend conference on Global Leadership
LHU, BHC and ourselves are enthusiastic about maintaining the link and running similar visits in future years
6. Conclusion
The students were outstanding ambassadors for their school and their country, dispelling a number of myths about western young people by their courteous, polite and respectful manner. They all engaged enthusiastically with Indian culture and food and the different activities. They related extremely well to our hosts and the students and staff at BHU, as well as the people with whom they interacted on the various day trips.
The main focus became the various challenges which will face the global community in the 21st Century, such as climate change, global warming, global poverty, international terrorism and overpopulation: global challenges which will require global solutions if humanity is to thrive and survive in the next 100 years. The visit showed just how important it is to bring young people together face to face – future leaders – from different parts of the world, to discuss and challenge each other’s thinking and to work together on the solutions which will, hopefully, ensure the survival of future generations.
Peter Norman, 3rd November 2009
|
