The Children’s Parliament & Aberdeen’s Imagineers!!!

Riverbank has been involved in a project run by the Children’s Parliament over a number of weeks now. Colin and Catrin from the Children’s Parliament wanted to know what our children thought of Tillydrone and Aberdeen, in particular. Three other schools in Aberdeen have also been involved in the project and ultimately small groups of children from the four schools worked together to imagine how they would like things to be, to make Aberdeen a better place to live in, if you are a child.

Initially, Colin and Catrin worked with classes of children and these classes were then broken down into smaller groups before, eventually, five children went to work in a joint project with five children from each of the other schools. This work was carried out over a week with artists being involved to help the children produce, among other things, a mural which measures 9m long by 1.5m high. The children were accompanied each day by one of our PSAs as they met and worked at Harlaw Academy.

The children discussed their feelings and gave their opinions on a wide range of topics and the school received feedback on a daily basis on how things were moving along.

The children clearly made an impact on those adults they were working with. We received a hugely complimentary letter from one of the artists, who stated that they had never written to a school about their pupils before, but they felt compelled to do so such was the hard work and the contribution the children had made to the project.

The Imagineers project, or Imagining Aberdeen, has a very high profile and was visited by a number of VIPs. One of these was Angela Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen City Council. She was so impressed with two of our pupils that she has invited them to Marischal College to meet her, at work, and for them to be given a tour of the building. These pupils had asked Ms Scott what her job entailed and that they were surprised that a woman held that position! These two pupils were girls!

The work carried out by the 20 children from the four schools culminated in the most amazing mural which highlights the likes and dislikes of Aberdeen. It covers the city and family life, too. It tells us, adults, what our children would like to see happen to make Aberdeen a better place to live in. You will be astonished at what the pupils came up with and we have given them a voice in order that they can express themselves. We need to listen and look at what they have to say!

The mural will be on display at Riverbank for the week and we would like to invite parents and carers in to view the mural on Wednesday 8 June from 2.00pm to 3.00pm. Please come along and see this totally unique piece of work…..Oh! and watch out for the seagulls! Nobody likes them and things that the children don’t like appear on the backs of our least favourite birds!!!

I have included the Imagineers Update e-mails and complete hyperlink so that you can go to the Imagineers website and view the project as it unfolded along with video footage of the children involved.

https://bit.ly/ImaginingAberdeen

Please, try to find time to come along to see the mural and try clicking on the link above to follow the Imagine Aberdeen Project over its five days at Harlaw Academy.

UNCRC/RRSA

Article 12 – Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.

Article 13 – Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Article 15 – Every child has the right to meet with other children and to join groups and organisations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights.

Article 29 – Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.