Daniel Whyley

Oxford Mail:

Schools and Colleges Liaison Officer, Oxford Brookes University

June 18 marked the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta, considered by many to be the most important document in British history.

As Oxford Brookes has been celebrating its own 150th anniversary this year, we are proud to have been an official part of national events celebrating Magna Carta, in partnership with the Magna Carta 800th Committee.

Staff from across the university have delivered a wide range of events and activities, chiefly through a successful partnership between our UK Recruitment and Partnerships Team and our Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

An important part of the project has focused on engaging young people from schools and colleges in Oxfordshire and beyond with Magna Carta and the issues it still represents today.

In March, a Magna Carta Resource Pack was created, and sent to all state schools and colleges in Oxfordshire. It received great praise from teachers for being a stimulating resource for encouraging classroom learning about Magna Carta.

Our Magna Carta symposium for local students in June was particularly enjoyable and hugely successful.

It featured a keynote speech by the journalist and MOBO award-winning rapper Akala and a range of workshops by Brookes academics.

More than 120 local students, predominantly from Years 9 and 10, attended, and in feedback surveys more than 94 per cent said it increased their knowledge of both Magna Carta and its continued relevance.

The biggest part of the project has been the Modern Magna Carta Challenge – an invitation to young people to create their own Magna Cartas reflecting the rights, liberties and freedoms they believe people should have today.

In support of this, myself and colleagues delivered interactive workshops in schools and colleges between April and June, teaching students about Magna Carta and the power of art to communicate messages and give people a voice.

The students were encouraged to be as creative as possible with their Magna Cartas and this resulted in a fantastic variety of work including paintings, photographs, poems, sculptures and videos.

We were delighted to be able to hold an exhibition of their work, A Modern Magna Carta, which was displayed over the summer firstly in our own Glass Tank exhibition space and then at the Museum of Oxford.

This was a real triumph and garnered high praise from Brookes staff and students, friends and family of the artists and the general public. It also provided three of our current Brookes Fine Art students with the opportunity to curate the exhibition, which they did admirably.

More than 100 students contributed to the exhibition, from the Entry 2 Elements Class at City of Oxford College, Year 7 groups at King Alfred’s Academy and Matthew Arnold School, Year 6 at New Marston Primary School and Year 4 at St Michael’s CE Primary School, as well as students from Brookes Engage, our sustained access programme for local Year 12 and 13 students.

It has been an absolute pleasure to have worked on this project. I am confident we have significantly increased local students’ knowledge of Magna Carta, their awareness of human rights and liberties and their aspirations to potentially progress to higher education one day.

The work the students produced for the exhibition was both inspirational and reassuring, with every young person involved demonstrating a natural and unwavering belief in principles such as fairness and equality.

For myself and colleagues at the university, the project has also created an even greater energy and desire to further our work with schools and young people on related topics in the future.

Read more about the project and get updates via our blog at oxfordbrookesmagnacarta.blogspot.co.uk.