So here we are in March and the project is coming along nicely. The Vocational skills students are persevering with the huge collage of Tom. its 4ft by 4ft and made up of hundreds of photos of the rest of the group in various shades of grey. Its going to be brilliant when its done. Mrs Gould (the form teacher) says its doing wonders for their team working skills, and hand to eye co-ordination. It represents team working too, as we all need to work as a team to complete it, and the whole team is pictured in it! 

The GALYIC girls are developing their photography skills and have brought in items they think demonstrate who they are and what they are about to inspire their photography. Violins and feather boa’s abound! They are discussing homophobia and how it’s dealt with at their school. One of the girls was told by her teacher that she should just try to ignore her bullies and the staff would deal with the problem when her exams were over. Obviously she was very shocked at this attitude and wants to get this issue sorted out before her exams start. She feels this project will help raise awareness. Between them the girls have discussed making a film about homophobia and how isolating it can be. They have created a photo-storyboard. We don’t know if we will have enough time to make a film, but it’s something to think about for future projects. 

The girls invited an older person to come along and be interviewed about what it was like for him as a gay teenager in the 50s and 60’s. They recorded the interview as a pod cast. This gentleman was from a strongly Catholic family and had a very strong faith, but had to make a decision between his faith and his sexuality at a young age. He went through some difficult times and eventually he turned away from his faith, but this affected his whole life and he really struggled. Later on however, he rediscovered his faith and has become a practicing Christian once again. He lives with his partner and is very happy, and says that there was a time when he thought he would never be happy again. They also interviewed a transsexual young person who talked about the struggles she faced because of her culture and society as a whole. This was also recorded as a pod cast and we really appreciated the frank and candid way these people spoke about their experiences.

I think it has opened the girls eyes as to the difficulties people face in our ‘modern’ society. They have discussed these issues with others from the group and we are really proud that these young people feel that our project provides a safe environment where they can discuss these things without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. The staff on the project are learning things as well, and it really opens your eyes as to the kinds of difficulties that teenagers and young people have to deal with.

The young people from the PRU (pupil referral unit) are also producing some great work. Cody has written lots of poems in her own time which she has put in the album that Jackie gave her. She is decorating them with photos and stickers. it will look great when its finished. Robson and Nathan continue to use photoshop to manipulate their images. The end results are great.

The Project Challenge young people have joined our project now as we had a few people drop out. These are young people who are classed as NEET (not in Education, Employment or Training) and they are aged 16-19. They all have various issues, some are homeless, some dropped out of school without qualifications, some just can’t find work. if you want to find out more about the training provider go to www.projectchallenge.org.uk  They have shown an interest in using our equipment and trying out photography etc. We hope they settle in as they are a bit older than most of the other young people engaged on the project.

Finally our Older people and year 9 Media Club are really gettting their teeth into their discussions-they have looked at a case of a Huddersfield shop keeper who was murdered recently and the way it was reported in the press. It’s amazing how the use of language can automatically put a slant on the way you see the people its describing. The tabloid newspapers use language like ‘yobs’ which automatically makes you think they are ‘bad’. Granted in this case they were, but there are very few stories in the press about the good things that young people do. We all agreed we’d like to see more positive reporting regarding young people. What was also interesting was when the two generations discussed these stories, their views were very similar and no one was condoning or trying to defend the poor behaviour of the young people involved. However, Ivy, one of our staunch older supporters did say that you could think all young people must behave like this if you just believed what you read or saw on TV, but she knows from working on other projects with RVHS that it’s only a small amount of young people who do.

We plan to record some of our debates and put it together as a pod cast for the exhibition.  

Ok, I’m signing off for now. We’ve eaten all the bourbons, so better go to the shop for some more. If nothing else, the biccies will keep us together!