On Tuesday, 25th of January, Oakham’s Form 2 pupils had an exciting opportunity to participate in the MYP Community Day that was centred around the issues of refugees and migration while specifically focusing on the School’s core values of Care and Contribution. In broad terms, Oakham’s MYP Community Days form a part of Service and Action provision where pupils are given meaningful opportunities to engage in practical explorations through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection.
The day began with a virtual visit from A M Dassu who is a multi award-winning, Carnegie nominated, writer of both non-fiction and fiction including the internationally acclaimed novel Boy, Everywhere, that Form 2 pupils were encouraged to read over the summer. The book chronicles the harrowing journey taken by Sami and his family from privilege to poverty, across countries and continents, from a comfortable life in Damascus to a detention centre in Manchester. Through communication with A M Dassu the pupils were able to learn the reasons behind her inspiration in writing as well as explore a range of issues that relate to refugees, migration and how those are portrayed in literature.
Following on from the author’s visit the pupils engaged in further research exploring the needs of those who join new communities and, specifically, what can be done to make those new members more welcome. As a culmination of the day, each pupil has made a pledge of action centred around Care that they would be following through the rest of the academic year.
Lucy Breag, Head of Library and the MYP Community Project Coordinator observed, “Through our MYP Community Days we encourage all pupils and staff to articulate and embody our core values: Care which lies at the heart of everything we do, Courage and Contribution are behaviours that we wish to inspire and we want pupils to see and find Connection in all aspects of their educational and future lives”.
Dmitriy Ashton, IB MYP Coordinator, remarked, “The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who recognise their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet.Therefore, our focus in Form 2 is on the theme of Common Humanity that, as IB learners, we explore through Service and Action by being caring members of the many communities that we belong to and making a personal commitment to making a positive difference to the lives of others.”
