Education Scotland and Forest Pitch are working in partnership to offer all primary age children in Scotland an opportunity to design the football strips for an exciting project connected with London 2012.

Forest Pitch is the only Scottish project in Artists Taking The Lead, a major part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, and is also part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.  The Cultural Olympiad uses art and culture to welcome the world, to inspire young people and to create a lasting legacy.

Scottish artist Craig Coulthard, supported by funding from Creative Scotland will be creating a full size football pitch hidden deep within woodland in the Scottish Borders. In July 2012, two games will take place on this pitch, one between men and one between women. The players will all be amateurs, resident in Scotland, over the age of 18.  In addition they will all be people who have become British citizens since the year 2000. After these games, the pitch will be left to grow back, and become a living relic of the events that took place in the woods.

The project explores a range of themes: national identity and belonging, what it means to be a citizen, how personal and shared memories and myths are created, the power of sport, diversity in nature and society, and sustainability.

Forest Pitch is looking for your creative designs for the football strips which the players will wear.  As there are 4 teams (2 men’s and 2 women’s) Craig is looking for 4 winners.

The competition is for primary-age pupils and is designed to enable children to express themselves openly and freely and to encourage critical thinking and creativity.  They will be able to express their own ideas, thoughts and feelings by exploring the themes of Forest Pitch and then creating a football strip design.

To find out more and enter the competition click here.

For further information contact michael.farrell@educationscotland.org.uk

… and don’t forget to register with Get Set and use Forest Pitch as part of your application to the Get Set Network.  This will provide even more opportunities and resources for learning linked to London 2012 – and free tickets through the ticketshare scheme.  Over 1100 Scottish schools are registered for Get Set and over 170 are now on the network.

Artlink Edinburgh has a new publication and accompanying teaching materials designed to support teachers of P4 to S3, available via the national Health and Wellbeing Glow group.

Angel Wings is an engaging story, which explores issues of mental health through the eyes of a young boy [Matthew]. It explores the warm and positive relationship with his mother and close family, the way that he understands mental ill health and how he experiences the issues that arise out of his mother’s episodes of mental ill health. The story is beautifully crafted by Anne Donovan after she worked with parents and carers to inform the story. It is real life in the form of fiction. Visit the Mental, Emotional, Social and Physical Wellbeing Glow group to download the publication and accompanying teaching materials.