The choir of Newcastle’s Sacred Heart High School participated in UNESCO’s master class against Racism and Discrimination on 21st March, singing a song, which exemplified the ethos of the global event, involving 1500 16-17 year olds online and in person in Paris.
Sacred heart’s choir on zoom led a cultural performance with student choirs from Nancy (France), Karlsruhe (Germany), Liège (Belgium), singing ‘I am a small part of the world’ – the song at the heart of our Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages, which promotes connection, understanding and tolerance of young people across the world.
It was such an amazing event to be a part of and our students are so proud and honoured to have participated.
Thos Oates, Head of Music, Sacred Heart Catholic High School, Newcastle
International Newcastle worked with our twin city partners in Nancy (France) to involve the choir from Newcastle in this global event. Our partners in Nancy’s local government helped organise the event, which included young people from their own city as well as their other twin cities in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. Students also connected online from Argentina, Austria, Egypt, France, Italy, Kenya, Lebanon, Mongolia, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The choir joined the event on zoom, supported by their Head of Music, Thos Oates.
In addition to this special event, schools across the North East and Nancy have been singing and performing the Festival song as part of Express Yourself: North East Festival of Languages and a compilation video of performances will be available in April.
Click here to see Sacred Heart’s choir performing on zoom at the event
Click here to find out more about the Festival Song
Click here to find out more about the Festival (which ended on 31st March 2022)
Young Champions tackling Racism and Discrimination
The event explored questions on discrimination based on gender, race and class. Participants were also invited to take part in intensive workshops on the topics of hate speech, antisemitism, negative perceptions of migrants and refugees, LGBTQ+ rights, systemic racism, the role of youth, intercultural competencies, and antiracism efforts in cities.
Despite progress made, racism and discrimination remain a reality. The fight is not over! It requires the involvement of us all. As young people have the means to reverse racism and discrimination, including hate speech, intolerance and violence, we need your help, your heart, and your voices to deliver!
Gabriela Ramos, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, opened the Master Class with a powerful call to action
The students committed to becoming champions within their own schools and communities and to take forward actions such as producing school journals with articles about discrimination that occur in their school, celebrating International Days and conducting social media campaigns. UNESCO will engage in a continuous dialogue with the participating schools to keep track of the inspiring activities that they will implement.