Over the past few years, our students have seen sporting excellence at Wimbledon, navigated canals, skied the French Alps and toured New York City.
We have also worked with a wide variety of organisations, including UK Active Kids, The Duke of Edinburgh Award, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, The Royal Air Force, and Birmingham City Mission.
Below is a non-exhaustive list of our projects and partnerships that we are proud to be involved with at Arena.
Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force aims to give young people the life skills and self-confidence to take charge of their lives so they can reach their full potential at school and beyond. Through enjoyable military themed and adventurous activities, cadets have the opportunity to take responsibility, develop skills such as leadership, self-reliance, resourcefulness, endurance and perseverance.
CORE Leaders of Tomorrow
Are you passionate about making a difference? Do you want your voice to be heard? Do you want to be a leader? Are you in Year 9 or 10?
In our Leaders of Tomorrow programme you will learn leadership skills from a range of industry leaders; with backgrounds ranging from Musical Theatre to AI and Coding. The programme will help you develop your voice and learn the skills to make impactful and sustainable change. Then, as a CORE Leader, you will be supported to join youth steering groups and boards across the city.
COREus
COREus is a trust-wide vocal group, bringing together students from all four CORE academies to develop their vocal skills and abilities. Working with professional voice coaches and conductors from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (part of Birmingham City University), the COREus students, from Years 8-10, are taught a range of singing skill and performance techniques, to breathe, warm up and use their body to get the best sound.
COREus is offered to students across the trust, as part of a wider creative education and music engagement programme, delivered in partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Recent projects include recording a charity Christmas single, which raised money for Shelter; a live performance on the concourse of Birmingham New Street Station to mark Holocaust Memorial Day; and taking part in “The Voice of our City” A community event celebrating the diversity and passion of young people from across Birmingham.
Echo Eternal
Echo Eternal is a commemorative arts engagement programme inspired by Holocaust survivor testimony to promote respect and understanding between different communities. Through the project, students will discover more about the remarkable life of Holocaust survivor, Hedi Frankl.
Find out more about Echo Eternal
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Through a Duke of Edinburgh Award programme young people have fun, make friends, improve their self-esteem and build confidence. They gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, problem-solving, team-working, communication and drive, enhancing CVs and university and job applications.
Pearson Teaching Award
Selected from thousands of nominations, the Echo Eternal Project from CORE Education Trust was named as one of the nation’s most inspirational school partnerships, winning a Pearson National Teaching Gold Award 2020 for Impact Through Partnership for outstanding commitment to changing the lives of young people through the Trust’s work.
Unicef – Rights Respecting School Award
We are very pleased to tell you that in January 2023, Arena Academy was awarded the second stage of UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA), Silver: Rights Aware.
What does it mean to be a Rights Respecting School?
We are always striving to create the best possible learning environment for our young people and this achievement shows that we are committed to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school.
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) is the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights, and we will be joining a community of over 4,500 schools in the UK working on the Rights Respecting Schools Award. You can find out more about UNICEF, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Rights Respecting Schools Award from the RRSA website: www.unicef.org.uk/rrsa
The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) focuses on children’s rights in schools and takes a whole-school approach to child rights and human rights education. Child Rights Education (CRE) can be defined as learning about rights, learning through rights and learning for rights within an overall context of education as a right. It aims to build the capacity of children as rights-holders to claim their rights, and the capacity of adults as duty-bearers to fulfil their obligations. Child rights education helps adults and children to work together, providing the space and encouragement for the meaningful participation and sustained civic engagement of children.
Why are we involved?
At Arena Academy, we believe in the power of education to inspire, to enable, and to enrich every life. The fundamental principles of the RRSA allow us to further enhance and develop this as it gives us a framework through which to further empower and develop our children to recognise their rights and responsibilities as they journey through their education. The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) has a profound impact on children and young people, and the school as a whole. When the principles and values of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) are introduced and reinforced throughout school life, children and the wider school community benefit. As schools implement the RRSA standards, they enable children and young people to make informed decisions and to grow into confident, active and empowered citizens. Right Respecting Schools across the country have reported that that the Award has many positive impacts including improved relationships and wellbeing, leading to better attendance and improved learning.
What does it involve?
During form time, our students cover ‘Article of the Week’. This is an opportunity to discuss and share articles (rights) and do related activities to stretch their thinking. It’s a chance to discuss and explore new articles in relation to their life and see how the convention is followed in countries around the world. Our students are also involved in fundraising for UNICEF initiatives/campaigns such as ShoeShare and World Children’s Day.
We have set up a group of UNICEF Ambassadors from Year 7-11 who meet regularly to implement the action plan which is to ensure that:
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) underpins our values and decision making in school.
• The whole school learns about the CRC and respects the rights of others.
• Children are empowered to become active learners and active local and global citizens.
Our UNICEF Ambassadors have created the Children’s Rights Charter which has been signed by every student and can be found on form notice boards.