Supported Study sessions are now underway in the Social Subjects department.

These sessions will run for Senior Phase pupils. A list with details of each session can be found below.

September 11th, 2021 marked the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks of the USA.

Two decades on since the day that a pair of hijacked airplanes destroyed the World Trade Center towers, another plane crashed into the Pentagon  building and a fourth passenger jet crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers sought to regain control from hijackers, America and the world reflected on the events that saw 2977 people killed on September 11, 2001.

The event sparked wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, created a domestic war on terrorism as well as generating major changes to security rules and surveillance in the USA and worldwide.

To commemorate the day, hundreds of people gathered at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on the spot where the World Trade Center’s twin towers once stood. Among these were President Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. They wore blue ribbons while the names of the dead were read off by family members and stories were shared.

All over the world, people observed minute’s silences in memory of the victims of the attacks. These were held at the times when the four buildings were struck.

Every year on 23 August, the world observes the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. We remember the victims of the slave trade and commemorate its abolition.

History 

The colonial empires of Western Europe were the main benefiters from the transatlantic slave trade. The trade transported people, mainly from Africa, in inhumane conditions to work as slaves in the colonial settlements.

The night of 22-23 August 1791 saw the beginning of an uprising in Santo Domingo, in modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic. The uprising in the French colony inspired the Haitian Revolution. It also played a major role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

Therefore, the United Nations (UN) decided to commemorate this day as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Significance 

The day is marked to remember and honour the victims of the slave trade and the systemic racism they endured.

The results of the Scottish Parliament Election 2021 are in…

The SNP has won with 64 seats in the election. The figure marked one short of a majority, but one more than they won back in 2016.

The success of the Scottish Greens, who won eight seats (an increase of two from 2016) means that there is a pro-independence majority between the two parties.

The Scottish Conservatives remain the party in opposition with 31 seats while Labour is in third place with 22. The Liberal Democrats have lost a seat and now have four.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. All over the world, people come together to celebrate women’s achievements or rally for women’s equality.

Marked annually on March 8th, International Women’s Day (IWD) is one of the most important days of the year to:

• celebrate women’s achievements
• raise awareness about women’s equality
• lobby for accelerated gender parity
• fundraise for female-focused charities

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose To Challenge‘. A challenged world is an alert world. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.  Raise your hand high to show you’re in and that you commit to choose to challenge and call out inequality.

Interested in making a difference to climate change?

The ‘Climate Hot Seat’ is an online event, scheduled for Friday 9th April, which has been organised by young climate activists from across Scotland and will see party leaders in Scotland quizzed on environmental issues. You can sign up to attend the event here. 

As well as attending the event, young people across Scotland have the opportunity to put their climate and environmental questions to party leaders through an open call for questions. The deadline for submitting questions is 9am on Friday 26th March 2021.  You can submit questions here. 

The Climate Hot Seat – The Warm-Up event

There will also be an opportunity to join young climate activists and expert speakers to learn more about five key environmental areas with experts on Friday March 12^th at the The Climate Hot Seat – The Warm-Up event. This event will be hosted online and you can sign up to attend the event here.

The young climate activists group said: “Addressing climate change has never been more important than now.”

Fairtrade Fortnight brings people together across the UK to share the stories of the people who grow our food and drinks. mine our gold and who grow the cotton in our clothes: people who are often exploited and underpaid.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us more than ever how interconnected we are globally. In Fairtrade Fortnight 2021, the focus is on the growing challenges that climate change brings to farmers and workers in the communities such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Honduras.

To get involved:

You can take part in the ‘Choose the World You Want’ youth exhibition in Fairtrade Fortnight 2021.

Create your vision for the world you want, for the planet and everything on it. Share your artwork, poem, prose or film for a chance for your work to be exhibited in the online Youth Exhibition at the ‘Choose the world you want’ festival between 22 February and 7 March 2021. Email your vision masterpiece to schools@fairtrade.org.uk with the subject line CHOOSE THE WORLD YOU WANT stating your name and age  in the email. Submit your vision by March 1 2020.

Watch here: Change the world through your choices on Vimeo

“May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears”

– Nelson Mandela