Ringing Forums

I found reference in the Mobile Belfry web page to lesson plans trialled by Jason Hughes in 2021 and I can see this is a topic in the workgroup for Young Ringers. But I can’t find the actual lesson plans! Try emailing andreadothaynesatcccbrdotorgdotuk as the workgroup lead for Young Ringers and hopefully she can send you the lesson plans which have been developed.
This information is designed for guides and scouts but might also be helpful: https://cccbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Bluebells-Challenge-Syllabus-March-2023.pdf
I know Jen Thomas (in the Young Ringers workgroup) has been involved with this stuff so if you can’t get hold of Andrea let me know and I can give you Jen’s email address (but not on the forum).

It's not just science, but there are lots of other subjects in the National Curriculum that are relevant to ringing. In the Alresford ART Hub we have been successful in obtaining a £62k grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund towards restoring the ring of bells at Ropley and a two year follow on project to 'engage new audiences' with the heritage of bells and bellringing. The local history society will be helping us to deliver a 'history detectives' project to the local CofE primary school next year. We are also going to be running an after school tune-ringing club each autumn term in the lead up to Christmas. To quote the head teacher "This sounds like an absolutely splendid opportunity for the children!"

The other parish in the benefice, Bishops Sutton, has also recently obtained a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to re-roof the building. In order to engage new audiences with heritage, they have teamed up with the local secondary school to undertake some history and art projects and display the results in an exhibition space that they propose to build at the back of the church. The church is on the Pilgrims Way, so that also helps.

To support both projects I have therefore looked at the national curriculum for key stages 1 - 6 and undertaken some historical research (the teachers said that I needed place it somewhere where the children could find it, rather than expect them to find it all themselves|). At Primary age, the emphasis is on early history, whereas at Secondary age, the emphasis goes right up to the present day. However I have been able to bring in many aspects including the Norman conquest and the curfew bell, Henry VIII and the Reformation, the Gunpowder Plot, Cromwell, Georgian behaviour, Big Ben, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, the Temperance Movement and the role of women in society etc. Do have a look https://bellringing.co.uk/heritage.htm

The school lesson plsns are well along in terms of the content. But the packaging up to offer to schools is still a piece that we need to do. I know that Andrea Haynes is looking to form a short task group to create the delivery model and rollout plan, so that it is there right under school's noses, and how to transition this into a sustainable project. We are especially looking for ringers in education to help with this, as well as people who have some background in this part of a project lifecycle. There will be an article in the RW about it soon.

Thank you all for these replies, which have proved extremely useful. We are also having the Guides and Brownies soon so the link for the Challenge Badge was just what we needed.
Best wishes, Barbara