A group of sixth formers from Teesdale have again won a place in the Euroscola competition to speak at the EU Youth Parliament in Strasbourg.
The national competition, organised by Europe Direct, encourages students to express their opinions on current social, economic and political issues relating to Britain’s relationship with the European Union.
The team at Teesdale Sixth Form researched and wrote collaboratively to produce a script on their ideas on the implication for Britain after the referendum vote to leave the European Union. The team consists of Ella Blackburn, Ben Greaves, Evie Ridgway, Scarlett Ballantine, Lucy Blackburn Sadie Askwith and Jenny Teward.
For the first stage of their prize, the group visited the Pop –Up Film School, part of the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, a venue which regularly boasts exciting workshops and courses for all aspiring film makers and scriptwriters.
Their film script looked at Brexit issues and it was one of the requirements of the competition that the script had to have parts of it in a European language. We were delighted that, although we may not be a big school, we still boasted four languages other than English which were spoken by the students during filming - French, Spanish, German and Russian.
Students learned how to use a film camera, to record and check sound, to use a green screen and also to edit using specialist software; they were delighted to be taught by Sean McKenna who is responsible for the running of the film school.
Along with other winners, Emmanuel College, The Hermitage Academy and Consett Academy, students spent the day learning how to film. Although the script must only be two minutes long, filming was very intense and students really benefitted from swapping roles and being able to see how the whole process of making a film works. Several of them came away inspired to visit the film school again, either to participate in one of the courses or to use the drop-in evenings to make their own films.
Over lunch students were briefed about the second part of their prize, a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg in March. Along with students from 28 other countries, the teams will live debate a variety of issues such as development aid (parents and fellow students might like to know that the discussions in the European Parliament in Strasbourg are live streamed on the day: please contact Mrs Flint for more information).
In order to better understand the way that the European Parliament works, students were also briefed by Simon Hall who works in the office of our north east MEPs. Two of our students asked very interesting questions and he was able to explain both some of the implications of Brexit and his own motivations for going into politics.
Several students from last year’s winning Teesdale team found the experience of working and speaking with other students from different countries very rewarding. For two of the group, Emma Turner and Jack Parker who have both gone on to study modern languages at Cambridge and Durham Universities, the experience of working with interpreters and seeing how large multi-national issues are discussed was really inspiring.
Teesdale’s Euroscola team are now working hard to prepare for the discussions that they will have in Strasbourg as well as looking forward to seeing the finished films which they made.