We are delighted to share the video of children from Collège Guynemer in Nancy singing and playing Just One World, this year’s Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages song. The school orchestra and choir performed and recorded the song in English and you can click here to see the video.
The choir and the orchestra of the music teacher Mrs Manonni are proud to participate to the festival for the second year.
Déborah Keeton, Collège Guynemer, Nancy, France
Newcastle-Nancy school partnerships
Collège Guynemer is partnered with Benton Park in Newcastle and one of the teachers who engaged them in the song activity, Déborah Keeton, is also one of our key partners in Nancy helping us to develop school partnerships across our two cities. We now have 25 school partnerships from primary and secondary schools in Newcastle and Nancy, as well as around 20 other partnerships across Europe and the world. Schools with partners work together virtually throughout the year and those who accessed Turing Scheme funding last year are visiting partners in May and June.
International Newcastle and Newcastle City Council (School Effectiveness) are currently supporting Newcastle schools to apply for Turing Scheme funding, develop links and also helping schools develop their international approaches across the school, to benefit the whole school community, support learning and global citizenship.
Children and staff from Benton Park will be visiting Collège Guynemer in Nancy in May 2023, which will be a life-changing experience and open up new perspectives, build confidence, new friendships and connections, as well as helping them develop their language abilities. These types of experiences can have a dramatic and positive influence on children’s future education and career opportunities.
Just One World – the Festival Song
Children from schools, choirs, orchestras and community groups across the North East region are singing, playing, signing and recording Just One World as part of the Festival this month.
The Festival Song is a great way to encourage children to sing in different languages and be part of the Festival, which is a regional celebration of our diverse languages and cultures and our connections to the world.
Declan Baharini (International Newcastle) and Sarah Edgar (Newcastle City Council, School Effectiveness) have helped develop this project, which is led by Georgina Biddle and Gareth Miller (Music Partnership North), who have also engaged all the music hubs and services in the region to support schools and groups to engage. Gareth wrote and arranged the song and International Newcastle and our partners at Newcastle University (Language Resource Centre) and Durham University (School of Modern Languages and Cultures), as well as in communities have provided translations and recordings in British Sign Language, Bengali/Bangla, French, Greek, German, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Urdu, Romani, Spanish, Yoruba, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian.
The singers and performers will submit videos this week and a compilation recording will be produced by Gareth Miller at Music Partnership North, showcasing the talents of children from across the North East – and Nancy – singing in many different languages. This is the second time that a song has been part of the Festival, now in it’s third year. Be inspired by performances by the region’s children and young people in the compilation video of the 2022 Festival Song: I am a small part of the world.
It is fantastic to have this recording from our partners in Nancy and so impressive to see the French children playing instruments and singing in English. When the global and local situation is so challenging, partnerships bringing children and schools together to develop links, understanding and friendships are even more important.
Thank you to Déborah Keeton, the choir and orchestra and Mrs Manonni from Collège Guynemer for taking part.
Declan Baharini, Director, International Newcastle and Co-ordinator, Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages