BGS Junior Aradin Team
This week an enterprising group of Lower Sixth students submitted an application for the Cambridge Festival of Ideas along with Director of Sixth Form, Dr Walters, and English teacher, Mrs Barrett.
The submission forms part of a wider project aimed at creating a stronger sense of global citizenship and cultural awareness at BGS. The girls are carrying out an action research project on how young British women understand culture and their own cultural identity, in particular their British culture, and how this conflates with other cultural identities that are important to them. The project is focused on Years 10 to Upper Sixth and is linked to the Cambridge-based charity, Aradin, whose work is concerned with the preservation of endangered linguistic and cultural heritage through academic scholarship and work with local communities, particularly in the Middle East. This collaboration has led to the development of the very first Junior Aradin Group.
The BGS project team, which involves both staff and students from across a range of year groups, will be running thought-provoking workshops to explore issues of culture and identity, which will form a part of the presentation at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas in October.
Lower Sixth student, Rosalie Inman expressed her excitement about the project: “I am very happy to be involved in this work, which is aimed at getting the next generation to think more about cultures. In the Sixth Form, we are asked to think much more about diverse issues and ideas; I think it is great to be involved in a project that is giving students across the school the opportunity to think differently and more deeply.”
Another Lower Sixth student, Beth English, who is leading the creation of Junior Aradin, said: “I am really honoured to be leading the first ever Junior Aradin. I hope this work enables girls at BGS to begin think more deeply about these issues, as well as have connections with experts outside the school community."
The team will hear later this month whether their submission has been accepted for the Festival.
