Belonging, community and unsung heroes

November has given us lots of opportunities to really focus on the unsung heroes that make a difference in our lives and shape our children's sense of belonging.

A partnership project with Cohere Arts over the last two terms had a wonderful moment of celebration on 18th November at Snape, with a concert showcasing the work of children with Cohere, it's wide range of musicians and songwriters, and colleagues at Suffolk Archives. Led by Amy Mallett at Cohere, and our own Martin Gregory coordinating the children and schools, children delved into their local history at The Hold in Ipswich, and Lowestoft Library to find "unsung heroes" - people from the past who had a story worth telling. Historians helped children at each ASSET school use historical evidence to tell their hero's story, while songwriters visited schools to help children use their creativity to turn these stories into songs.

Now every school has a "school song" that tells the story of a character from the past, rooted in the community around the school. We know what a deep sense of belonging can be experienced from singing together, and how much more so when we connect it to our sense of place? Watching each school's choir sing and own their new song was uplifting enough, but watching children from all 13 ASSET schools come together to rehearse for the performance, to sing the final, shared song together, get to know each other over the day, making friends from other places and feel part of something bigger, connect with musicians and then be applauded by a full house of family, friends, schools staff and members of the community - was something entirely magical.

The power of place was a key theme in the #iwill week celebration, as we saw the Ipswich Social Mobility Alliance launch it's commitment to support #iwill and young people in making Ipswich a town of Youth Social Action, and for ISMA organisations to set out their 25 year strategy to improve outcomes for children and young people. It was a time for us as a whole trust to review our Power of Youth Charter commitments, but also to step up to acts of leadership in the ISMA first year action plan. Our children in Ipswich schools played a key role in setting out their vision for their town, and we are committed to taking responsibility to facilitate their agency in shaping and building the future they want.

November saw the "re-boot" of our Pupil Parliament, with 2 children from every school meeting together at Bungay Primary. It was a day of togetherness - children at first quiet and shy of their peers from other schools explored aspects of leadership and the things that matter to them - in their schools, their wider communities, and in the world. By the time they shared buses home, new friendships were made and children felt part of something bigger. They named themselves "The ASSET Arrows" - I'm sure we'll have a bunch of straplines to describe their youth social action activities soon!