The Pozières French- Australian School Project

Transcription

1 The Pozières French- Australian School Project Gold Coin Donation Phone North Terrace, Hackney, SA,5069 Camp Gallipoli Foundation Inc. ABN

2 Gold Coin Donation Camp Gallipoli Foundation has been appointed with the responsibility of engaging with schools to assist the Pozières French- Australian Schools Project. Camp Gallipoli welcomes the opportunity for your school to be involved in this important act of kindness and mateship, as was the case nearly 100 years ago. It is an opportunity to maintain our unique Australian bond with Pozières, where so many ANZACs paid the ultimate sacrifice. Importantly, each individual s contribution can create direct engagement with the events of 100 years ago by activating a living tribute in the minds of Australian school students today. All Australian schools participating in the Pozières French- Australian Schools Project will be acknowledged with their school s name forever engraved on a plaque to be erected at the newly built Pozières School. 2

3 How do we get involved? To keep it simple and meaningful: Pass around a hat (slouch hat / diggers hat preferred if available) to collect gold coins. Two students nominated to count and witness the calculation. The quantum is recorded and together with the coins stored in a safe box until banking. The student/s and teacher/parent deposit the funds into the nominated bank account at any bank (see below for details). A receipt of deposit is obtained from the bank. The receipt is scanned and ed to sophie@campgallipoli.com.au Donations to be received by June Payment* CHEQUE TO: Pozières French- Australian Schools Project C/O Camp Gallipoli Foundation 35 North Terrace Hackney SA 5069 OR EFT: Camp Gallipoli Foundation BSB: Account: School full name and address *You will also need you to supply the details of your school s name and address for the commemoration plaque. 3

4 More about the project The proposal is to build a new school with a teachers common room, a small library, adequate bathroom facilities, disabled access, an assembly hall and seven classrooms to accommodate for approximately 130 students, including students coming from small villages in surrounding communities. While the funding for the project will come from a range of sponsors and support organisations, it is proposed to partially fund the building of the school through the gold coin donations of Australian school children. In order to achieve this, Australian students are asked to contribute by making a donation towards the Pozières French- Australian Schools Project. Since its inception in 2012, a primary aim of the project has been to reinforce the memory of ANZAC from the Battle of Pozières. By providing the village with such an enduring legacy, local children of Pozières will foster a lasting connection with Australia, while school children of Australia will be motivated to engage with Australian history and recognise the impact of World War 1. His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley, Governor of NSW, officially launched the Pozières French- Australian Schools Project in late May It is proposed to turn the first sod on the 23rd of July 2016 with the official opening to be held on the 23rd of July 2017 as part of the commemoration of the Battle of Pozières. 4

5 To oversee the architectural and design aspects and to undertake the ongoing site management, an Australian and French project team will be set up. Assistance has been sought from the NSW Institute of Architects who have proposed the design of the Pozières School be created through a competition among young graduate architects. Parallel to this, a local French based architect will also be engaged in ensuring the local building standards and requirements are met. The schedule for design, site preparation and construction is approximately two years. Given this, it is hoped the Governor General, Sir Peter Cosgrove will dedicate the site on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Pozières in July Actual construction of the school will begin in August 2016, with major exterior work completed before the onset of winter in November 2016, ready for fit- out and opening in July st 1 Australian Division Memorial, Pozières Detail and battle Honours, 1 Division Memorial, Pozières st 5

6 THE SCHOOL PROPOSAL At present the village has a one- room school located on the ground floor of the Mairie (Town Hall) and currently provides education facilities for around 30 students. Erected ninety years ago, it has seen better days. The building has old floors in poor condition and the teachers and children have almost no modern facilities, relying on blackboards and chalk. Even with a significant renovation, it is difficult to envisage the school having the capability to support the electrical upgrade needed to provide what we in Australia would consider necessary tools for the education of children. The toilets for the school are located 50 metres away from the main building. Throughout winter, Pozières has extreme snow and wet conditions, so to be able to use the toilets, the children often had to walk through snow and ice to a cold, open and aging facility. The proposal is to build a new school with seven classrooms, a teachers common room, perhaps a small library, toilets and facilities and an assembly hall. French schools do not normally use assembly halls, but the assembly hall will be used as an area where the local children can interact with visiting children, which is an important cultural exchange aspect of this project. It has been suggested each classroom represents a geographical region of Australia, for example, the Snowy or Far Northern Rivers, the Riverina or the Western Australia. Unique timber from these areas would be used in various fittings and each particular area will be well represented through use of local décor. This provides a direct connection between the Pozières School and Australia, while allowing each Australian state to be accurately represented throughout the building construction. While it is hoped the school will be built with an Australian- look, with the feel of rural Australia including a verandah, what is most important is that this school reflects a vision of Australia and the legacy for the ANZACs who died and rest there today. 6

7 Further to the Pozières Australia School Project, the local and national education authorities are now preparing, with the support of the Mayor of Pozières, to consolidate small unsustainable village schools, some only a few kilometres away, into one modern and central school. This includes the communities of Contalmaison, Martinpuich, La Boisselle, Thiepval and Bazentin, all small villages very familiar to Australian troops during the First World War. Many Australian soldiers with no known grave remain at rest in and around these small villages close to Pozières, remembered with their names engraved on the walls of the National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux. There is also the possibility of building a small accommodation building on the site with two dormitories, teachers accommodation, showers and toilets. Any visiting schools from Australia making Pozières the centre of their Western Front visit can organise to stay in this accommodation, allowing for meaningful engagement with the children of Pozières and surrounding villages. This, however, is considered part of the Stage 2 plans of the project at this time. The Pozières School (Ecole) today on the ground floor beneath the Town Hall (Mairie) 7

8 A TRULY FRENCH- AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL Currently the French government of New Caledonia is establishing high school curriculum including "Australian international sections, beginning in the 2016 school year. This contributes to enrich the educational training offer, it has the ambition to support academic excellence in diversity, to contribute to the regional integration of New Caledonia and to develop the cooperation with Australia. As part of this, the partners will have to agree in particular on the syllabus for specific learnings in history- geography and Australian literature, on the control and evaluation of the international section, as well as on the option of placing or exchanging teachers. This agreement will form the basis for a similar arrangement for the Pozières School, the model being offered by the French Embassy in Canberra. As part of the broader initiative, it is hoped that a regular teacher exchange between the Somme region and a suitable schools might allow teachers also to gain cross- cultural experiences in a similar way to students. An Australian teacher within the school would potentially work across all classes from Kindergarten to Year 6 teaching the following: English language as an additional language. Australian songs and poems. Australian geography and history. Aboriginal and Torres Strait culture, art and dance. Show Australian films, particularly documentaries. Australian art through paintings and photographs. Australian wildlife and environment. Australian sport and popular culture. Uniquely Australian activities and pastimes. 8

9 This appointment would be managed by state Departments of Education and the wages and costs covered by the Department. If the Department cannot meet this cost, perhaps a teacher from a private school might be chosen and costs covered by the private school involved in the exchange. Alternatively, an ongoing fund might be established following the completion of the school to cover the annual costs involved in this exchange. The real cost: 23,000 Australian casualties in six weeks of fighting 9

10 THE OPENING BY THE GOVERNOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES The Pozières French- Australian School Project was officially launched by His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC, Governor of New South Wales on Thursday 28th May 2015 at St Clair High School in South- Western Sydney. The launch was attended by members of the Board, including Mr Will Davies, Mr John MacColl and Mr James Mitchell, Mr Eric Soulier, representative of the French Ambassador, Mr Eric Berti, the French Consul- General in Sydney, General Gordon Maitland AO, OBE RFD ED, Air Vice- Marshall Bob Treloar AO, Mr David Gray, Chairman Legacy Australia, Mr Chris Masters PhD (Hon), Mr Tony Fryer, President of St Mary s RSL, Mr Jean Baptiste Milcamps and the Principal Mr Chris Presland and the Deputy Principal, Ms Sally Smithard. The Governor spoke of the importance of the School Project as a living memorial and one uniquely honouring the Australian dead from the battle. He then officially launched the project. Student, Charlotte Kop acknowledged the meeting took place on the land of the Darug people. She paid her respect to elders past, present and future, stating they hold the memories and traditions of their people. After the speech by the French Consul- General Mr Eric Berti, the children from the French School, Lycée Condorcet sang the Marseillaise. Mr Guy Walton sang a specially written song, the Fields of Pozières and this was followed by the Australian National Anthem sung in aboriginal and English by student Jack Williams. Mr James Mitchell, Mr Will Davies, His Excellency the Governor, Mr John MacColl 10