May 13 2021
15 Modules bring G7 alive and invite children to have their say
The recently launched Sing2G7, an international programme designed to put children’s voices at the heart of G7 2021 and make the Summit relevant to their young lives, and partner Truro School today revealed comprehensive G7-themed educational resources for primary and secondary school teachers.
The resources, which include lesson plans and fun activities for Early Years as well as Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, have been created by teachers for teachers in time for the UK’s hosting of the G7 Summit this June in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. They are free to download from www.sing2g7.org.
The educational resources follow last week’s release of the Sing2G7 song ‘Gee Seven’, created for the project by Sir Tim Rice and Peter Hobbs. Sing2G7 is inviting singers across the globe to learn, sing and share their renditions of Gee Seven.
Sarah Patterson, Head of Truro School Prep, commented, “I am really excited to think that schools in Britain, Europe and across the planet will have the perfect opportunity to connect as we encourage our children to consider issues such as leadership, sustainability, and what it really means to be global citizens. Already thousands of voices worldwide have signed up to sing the Gee Seven song and I am thrilled at the possibilities this project presents in uniting children and teachers across the world to make G7 relevant to other children and for children everywhere to have a voice in the event.”
“The whole premise of the Sing2G7 project is how do we make the G7 relevant to children and how do we put them and their voices at the heart of the summit. With this in mind we are delighted to share some ideas and lesson plans, and some fun activities, from our school to yours as we approach the G7 Summit. We hope that the lessons stimulate conversation and consider some of the issues that will be discussed.”
So far 14,000 young voices worldwide, including pupils in over 150 UK schools, have signed up to sing the Sing2G7 song ‘Gee Seven’, created for the project by Sir Tim Rice and Peter Hobbs. Co-founders Christopher Gray, Director of Music at Truro Cathedral and Esmé Page, Founder, Cornwall Hugs Grenfell, expect a similar take-up of the Edu-pack. ‘Gee Seven is a great springboard to get young children interested in G7 and to find their voice,’ says Esmé Page. ‘With this outstanding education pack, teachers can harness that initial enthusiasm and go much deeper into G7 2021 agenda areas, such as Climate Change, the Pandemic and Poverty. This pre-Z generation is more than ready to have its say on those topics and the Edu-Pack opens up an empowering forum for them to do that. All the lessons are ready to go - all a teacher or parent need do is download and deliver.’
‘The children really enjoyed the singing and have been talking now about all kinds of G7 issues,’ says Hilary Tyreman, Head Teacher of Madron Daniel Church of England School, Penzance, where pupils began learning ‘Gee Seven’ last week. ‘I want to explore this further with them and the Edu-Pack is a fabulous ready-made resource for us to do this across all key-stages. Our school’s motto is ‘Together we can make a difference,’ and these lessons will enable us to relate this ethos to G7 issues right across the curriculum’
‘When we asked Truro School if they would create G7 educational resources we couldn’t have foreseen the scope of what they would produce, which is uniformly impressive in its substance, creativity and presentation. It will be a powerful contribution to children’s learning wherever it’s used,’ comments Christopher Gray, co-founder, Sing2G7.
Rachel Delourme, G7 Youth Programme Lead, Education Leadership Team, Cornwall Council said, ‘This high quality education pack is a phenomenal gift for all teachers. We hope it will be widely used in our county and beyond.’
Sing2G7 is Fundraising for Unicef’s Covax Appeal:
All resources are provided free of charge but schools who are sufficiently resourced are encouraged to contribute to the Sing2G7 Crowdfunder campaign in aid of UNICEF’s Give the World A Shot COVAX campaign: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/unicefs-covax-appeal/backers#start.
15 Modules from G7 Agenda Areas to Core Curriculum Lessons
For those learning the ‘Gee Seven’ song, the set of lessons begins with a dynamic presentation delving into the many cultural and historic references in Tim Rice’s ‘Gee Seven’ lyrics, from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to Pythagoras’s theorem to the seven metals of antiquity.
Beyond this, the 15 module Education Pack includes lessons exploring G7 2021’s ‘Build Back Better’ core agenda themes with Science and Humanities modules on Climate Change, Vaccines and Fair-trade, reflecting the pressing challenges faced by leaders this year. Under the environmental theme, a Science module on Ground Source Heat Pumps by Sing2G7 supporter, Cornish firm Kensa, makes understandable one of the key green technologies championed by the UK government for wide implementation by the time this generation of primary school children reaches adulthood.
Besides this there are core curriculum subjects which familiarise children with G7 nations and guest countries from a cultural and historic perspective. KS2 English takes a tour around beautiful folk stories from each country while PHSE for KS2 includes a creative exploration of tea and coffee drinking practices in G7 countries. A delightful art module invites children to express their messages to leaders in banner form with teachers encouraged to share pupils’ work online using the #Sing2G7. In a creative cross-subject module, Maths for KS2 provides a ready-made work booklet of graded challenge, practising area calculations based around G7 country flags, from the simple French tri-color to more complex Japanese sun motif flag.
Exploring Leadership
A key part of Sing2G7’s vision is to open early conversations about leadership in young children and to enable them to feel empowered to speak to power on issues that affect their future. To this end, an additional two-lesson module for KS2, created by the Sing2G7 team, invites children to explore what it is to be a good leader, encouraging them to discover and nurture the seeds of leadership in themselves and their peers, imparting a key message that all can aspire to be a change-maker. Leaders in children’s immediate environment are explored as well as internationally renowned role models such as Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg, with her inspiring challenge that, ‘No one is too small to make a difference.’
One week after the Youtube launch of an emotive song video of the ‘Gee Seven’ song, sung by Truro Cathedral Choristers, Sing2G7 volunteers have seen registrations from teachers across the world, including in Alaska, Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Japan, Portugal, Malaysia, Malawi, the UAE, South Africa, the USA and Vietnam with many overseas educators indicating that they hope to use the educational resources with pupils.
About Sing2G7
Sing2G7 is a concept created jointly by Chris Gray (Director of Music, Truro Cathedral) and Esmé Page (Founder, Cornwall Hugs Grenfell). It is an international children’s engagement programme prompted by UK’s hosting of the G72021 and grew out of the suggestion, ‘Imagine if we could put children’s voices at the heart of G7 and make the summit relevant to their young lives.’ The chosen vehicle of the initiative is a song, ‘Gee Seven’, written specially for the project by Tim Rice, Patron of Truro Cathedral Choir, with music by Peter Hobbs in an arrangement by Joseph Wicks. Through the song, the 35 choristers aged 8-18 are inspiring children around the world to unite and ‘sing to G7!’ with a strong message, urging them to take full responsibility for the rest of the world.
So far over 14,000 voices have registered to sing the song in 22 countries across the world. Singers are invited to post recordings and videos under #Sing2G7. Through this medium the organisers aim to make a loud, joyful sound issuing from all corners of the world, making the musical message of this generation un-ignorable to world leaders.
The song is released with a video, created by a large pro bono professional team and the entire project is volunteer led, with Vicky Garner, www.garnerandtonic.co.uk and Sarah McLachlan working closely with Chris Gray and Esmé Page as the core team.
Sing2G7 sits on its own website, www.sing2g7.org, where free music resources and an extensive education pack for primary school children are hosted, the latter created for teachers by teachers at Truro School, to enable them to make the Summit relevant in the classroom.
Partners in the project are Truro Cathedral, Truro School, Cornwall Music Service Trust, Cornwall Council, The Diocese of Truro, Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station and Future Leaders Network.
For further information or more images please contact: Sing2G7@gmail.com
Sing2G7: Esmé Page: 07803 594 285
Lee Simpson and Caroline Fletcher, Fourth Day: 020 7403 4411
Truro School
Carla Lamb, Head of Marketing and Communications
cll@truroschool.com, 01872 246 070