Learn to Live campaign: You can help by signing up your school today

Anna Davis @_annadavis6 September 2018

The Evening Standard wants to forge links between children in London and their peers who are living in war zones and refugee camps across the world.

We are twinning schools in the capital with schools abroad where children have faced unimaginable horrors.

In doing so we hope to increase empathy and understanding between pupils of all backgrounds, and highlight what they have in common as well as what separates them.

We want to highlight the long-term impact conflict has on young people. And it is hoped that at the same time readers will be able to relate to the issues facing children in war zones and gain a deeper understanding of their lives. Children at four London schools have already been linked with children in Iraq, Jordan and the Central African Republic. We will follow their stories throughout this campaign and watch their friendships grow.

At the very least, it is hoped this campaign will cast a much-needed light on the lives of these children who are growing up in some of the most difficult circumstances, and reassure them that they have not been forgotten.

Our first four schools will lead the way, but we want more schools to join the project. We are encouraging teachers across the country to follow the lead of our pilot schools and sign their own schools up to the twinning revolution.

Children will write to each other, ask questions and communicate by Skype where the technology is available. They will participate in a shared art project and learn about each others’ daily lives and cultures.

Each school will take the twinning on in their own way and the project will evolve over time.

Teachers who want their school to get involved can check the War Child website for inspiration and lesson plans to introduce their pupils to the topic.

For more formal twinning opportunities we encourage schools to sign up to Connecting Classrooms.

This is a global education programme run by the British Council, in partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID), that the Evening Standard is supporting.

Through this, UK schools can find partner schools overseas and start collaborating.

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