ImaginingAberdeen – Page 2 – Imagining Aberdeen

School of the future game

The Manor Park Parliament created a board game, they made the board, dice, cards and invited adults in their school and community to play.

There are good cards and bad cards. On the good cards there are drawings of things that help children to be ready to learn, and on the bad cards there are things that get in the way of children being ready to learn. If you get a bad card you have to go back a space on the board.

If someone rolls a question mark on the special dice everyone has to think of solutions to one of the cards and think of ways to make the school better.

After the game the adults were asked to make a pledge, something that they will do to make Manor Park a school where all children are able to do their best.

Parliament Peeps: Adults

The Parliament Peeps were asked to think some more about teachers at Manor Park and what they can do and say to make sure everyone can do their best.

They thought these things would help:

Do more fun things – change the lessons up everyday

When children come into school in the morning, cheer them up if they aren’t feeling good.

Let children learn at their own pace and their own level.

Be clear – make a lot of sense.

This is Miss Rabbie. She like to draw and show other people how to do it. She has a space for painting and drawing. She helps children with maths and writing. She is funny.

This is Mr Cool. He is tall and red haired and not funny but very kind. He helps people if they need help. He teaches children how to be a good child by being kind.

This is Miss Weir. She’s wearing a stripy cardy and has ginger hair. She’s kind. She like to do fun things with her class. She has a pen, so it corrects all the children’s work automatically. This means she isn’t tired and not grumpy in the morning.

This is Mr Maths. He like turquoise so wears it and has a hat on, which makes him smarter. He has a special pen – when he does maths it changes so that it is different for every pupil, at their own level. He has buttons that go red when people lie. This is the only time he gets angry.

Manor Park Learnometer

The Parliament Peeps invited children from across their school to contribute to a giant Learnometer!

The children told them what things help them to learn at Manor Park and what things get in the way. When all the different answers were gathered, the Parliament Peeps looked through them and put them in an order of the things that came up for lots of children.

Things that help children to learn were things like, teachers helping and going over things again when your struggling, when there are no bullies in your class and having music in class to help you relax.

Things that get in the way of children learning were things like people shouting in class or saying ‘I’m better than you’. Other things were people not being able to speak the same language as you and finding writing difficult.

Parliament Peeps

The Parliament Peeps are a group of P6’s at Manor Park Primary School. This term they are thinking about the learning and teaching policy in their school and also the behaviour policy.

They will be talking to children across the school to make sure children at Manor Park have their say.

‘We help kids speak out. We’re school savers!’

‘It’s changing time! We want a place where everyone is friends, this makes the school a happy place to be.’

What Kind of Aberdeen? Emergency Services

The Imagineers held their third ‘What Kind of Aberdeen?’ workshop at Northfield Fire Station. The adults that came to our workshop work in the Police, Ambulance and Fire Services.

We told the adults about the things that get in the way of a child being healthy, happy and safe, like disputes in families, no opportunities and bad attitudes.

We made defenders of children’s rights and talked about what adults need to know, do and say to help children. Like remembering what is like to be a kid and how you feel.

The best bit was getting to go in the Fire Engine, a Police car and an Ambulance!

What Kind of Aberdeen? Sport + Leisure

Last week the Imagineers held the second of their workshops ‘What Kind of Aberdeen?’ The workshop was held at Pittodrie Football Club and invited adults who work in areas of Sport and Leisure to learn about children’s rights.

In groups of adults and children we thought about the things children need to healthy, happy and safe. We talked about things that can get in the way, like not having a safe place to live or bullying.

Then we suggested things that adults can do, say and know that will help children. These are things like listening to children’s opinions, keeping the environment clean and not being afraid to ask questions and learn about children’s rights.

It was lots of fun meeting adults who work at Aberdeen Football Club as well as other adults who work with children and young people.

After the workshop we were taken on a tour of the stadium and beside the pitch and we all got photos and autographs with some of the players!

Child Friendly Cities

Last week the Imagineers were invited to take part in a discovery session with UNICEF and Aberdeen City Council. There were other young people there too, from the Youth Council and Torry Squad.

As a group we thought of really good things about Aberdeen that make us proud to grow up here, like living beside the beach and our families. We also talked about challenges there are in Aberdeen, like not having space in the city centre for children to play.

After that we thought about things that we want adults to know, do and say to help make Aberdeen a child friendly city. We think that adults should pay attention to their kids more than electronic devices and make sure that children are safe on the internet. It’s also important that adults are good role models and teach children about their rights.

We also think that there aren’t enough fun things for older children to do in Aberdeen. Like in doctors waiting rooms there are only toys for younger children. We would like there to be an xbox or art things to do.

What Kind of Aberdeen? Culture + Play

Last week The Imagineers hosted their first ‘What Kind of Aberdeen’ sessions with adults at His Majesty’s.

All the adults who came work in Culture and Play and wanted to learn more about what children in Aberdeen need.

We took the adults on a journey over rocks and barriers to a city where all children are healthy, happy and safe.

Some barriers that we think can get in the way are:

Violence
Not getting enough fresh air
Having no one to talk to when you need it
If someone in your family is ill.

We also told the adults about things that they can do to help children.

Things like:

Listening to our feelings and asking how we are
Stay off their phones and pay attention
Respect children

At the end we wrote kind messages to the other people in our group to take home!

It was really fun being at His Majesty’s Theatre for the workshop too. We got a special tour of the theatre and even got to go on the stage!

Imagineers at Shmu

“Every voice is special”

Last week the Imagineers were at Shmu’s recording studio recording audio to play at our ‘What Kind of Aberdeen?’ workshop. We are telling the story of a great journey to a city where children are healthy, happy and safe.

We enjoyed speaking out in the recording booth and sharing the idea of human dignity. It was lots of fun and we had never done anything like it before.

We can’t wait to hear the finished piece at our the first ‘What Kind of Aberdeen?’ workshop at His Majesty’s theatre!

Imagineer Passports

Later this month the Imagineers will have the first of their ‘What Kind of Aberdeen?’ workshops. These workshops are with adults who want to learn about of the idea of human dignity and children’s human rights.

We have been getting ready and working on our Imagineer passports. Our passport is a place where we can write about, and give examples of some of the key things we think about as Imagineers: Human dignity, trust, empathy and kindness.

To us human dignity is:

‘Treating other people who are different with respect as well’

‘Everybody is different because you don’t need to be the same’

‘Showing people love’

Trust is:

‘Kids must be able to trust adults so that they feel safe’

‘Telling the truth’

‘If you trust someone you feel good and nice but if you cant trust someone you might feel sad and annoyed’

Empathy is:

‘Try and look at every perspective’

‘Think before you say something you wouldn’t like to be said to you’

‘You can understand if someone makes a mistake’

Kindness is:

‘Listening to kids and helping them if they need it’

‘Being caring, thoughtful and sharing’

‘Kindness means you think about other peoples feelings’