8. Not your average bunting

Gomersal Primary School bunting
Photo: Gomersal Primary School

This fantastic bunting was created by children at Gomersal Primary School. It was on show at Batley Older People’s Centre on Saturday 24th March 2018 as part of a special event to celebrate International Women’s Day and Vote 100.

The children used images from the past to inspire their creativity and worked hard to produce beautiful pieces of art. They were inspired by old photographs and propaganda posters. While creating the bunting, they learnt some facts about women’s rights in the early 1900s and found out about suffragettes Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison.

Specialist art teacher Mandy Barrett says this is “not your average child made bunting” – and you can see why…

Gomersal Primary School bunting
Photo: Gomersal Primary School
Gomersal Primary School bunting
Photo: Gomersal Primary School

The event at Batley Older People’s Centre was partly funded by a small grant from the Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme.

Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme

 


100 little deeds for local democracy

Deeds not wordsTo celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by the children’s creativity, why not try making your own Vote 100 bunting for a community event? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy


 

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7. Debating and creating in the classroom

Gomersal Primary School debate
Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Gomersal Primary School recently borrowed the Parliamentary Loan Box from the Education service in Parliament. They have loved using this to create their own House of Commons in their art room. Over 300 children have had the opportunity to recreate debates in this classroom. Year 4 children used the resources to debate about women’s right to vote. The children thought very carefully and discussed the issues carefully.

The school’s younger children have also learnt about the lives of Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison in a lesson linked to their history topic of ‘Famous people who have changed the world’. They worked in the art room to create some beautiful mono prints.

Gomersal Primary School prints
Photo: Gomersal Primary School
Gomersal Primary School prints
Photo: Gomersal Primary School

Specialist art teacher Mandy Barrett has recently trained to be a UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador and will be doing lots more to promote democracy within the school.

You can find out more on the Gomersal Primary School website:

UK Parliament Teacher Ambassador – Gomersal Primary School

 

Here’s where to find UK Parliament resources for schools:

Teacher resources and lesson plans – Parliament Education service

Order a Parliament Loan Box

 


100 little deeds for local democracy

Deeds not wordsTo celebrate Vote 100, we’re sharing 100 little ways that citizens in Kirklees are doing something to strengthen our local democracy. If you’ve been inspired by the creativity of the Gomersal Primary School community, why not try something similar in your school? We’d love to hear how you get on: Share your little deeds for local democracy


 

Suffragettes: Deeds not Words – Live screening

Tuesday 13th February 2018, 7pm to 8.30pm
Huddersfield Library, Princess Alexandra Walk, Huddersfield HD1 2SU

This is a live broadcast of an event held at The British Library in London to mark the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act.

Leading women’s rights campaigner Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, Jill Liddington and Robert Wainwright discuss the struggle for the vote and ask how far women have come since the suffragettes, how far they still have to go and how they will get there. Chaired by Julia Wheeler.

Helen Pankhurst is a women’s rights activist and senior advisor to CARE International, based in the UK and in Ethiopia.  Her work in Ethiopia includes support to program development across different sectors, focused on the interests and needs of women and girls.  In the UK she is a public speaker and writer on feminist issues. She also leads CARE International’s #March4Women event in London on International Women’s Day. Helen is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, leaders of the British suffragette movement. Helen Pankhurst’s latest book Deeds Not Words: the Story of Women’s Rights, Then and Now will be published in February 2018.

Jill Liddington is a writer and historian. Her latest book, Vanishing for the Vote, was published by Manchester University Press in 2014. Her first suffrage history (One Hand Tied Behind Us, Virago) told the story of the radical suffragists of the Lancashire cotton towns and has remained in print ever since it was first published in 1978. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, a member of the Society of Authors and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Robert Wainwright has worked as a journalist for 30 years and is the author of eleven books, including The Maverick Mountaineer, which won The Times Biography of the Year Prize at the Cross British Sports Book Awards 2017, Sheila and Miss Muriel Matters.

Julia Wheeler is a journalist and interviewer who worked for the BBC for more than 15 years, including as the BBC’s Gulf Correspondent, based in the UAE between 2000 and 2010. She continues to work for broadcast and print in London. Julia has moderated large-scale conferences and chaired inter-governmental forums, and she is a chair and interviewer at several festivals including Cheltenham (Literature and Science), Stanfords Travel Writers Festival at Olympia and the Emirates Literature Festival.

Image: ‘The woman voter- see how she grows!’ taken from Votes for women. 
Originally published/produced on June 13, 1913 (Colindale, volume VI no.275)

How to take part

This is a free live screening event. Box Office: 01484 414868 or book online:

Suffragettes: Deeds not Words – tickets