Changing Lives at St Rochs
23 April 2008
A Secondary school in Glasgow’s East End is helping unite asylum seekers and Scottish kids through the Changing Lives campaign, run in conjunction with McIntosh Foods and The Daily Record.
A third of pupils at St Roch's Secondary are from as far afield as Somalia, Uganda and Lithuania. Since 2000, the Royston school has welcomed many children of asylum seekers and now 34 different languages are spoken within the school community.Initial barriers have been broken down, thanks largely to initiatives like the hip hop dance classes kick started by PE teacher Natalie Loughery. Determined to find common ground for Scottish pupils and asylum seekers, she drafted in a professional hip hop and breakdancing coach to hold classes for 10 weeks.
The venture proved extremely popular and attracted 25 pupils of both sexes, aged 12-18, every week. However, when the funds dried up earlier this year Natalie approached the Changing Lives Campaign, run in conjunction to McIntosh Foods and The Daily Record.
The school was awarded £500, which will pay for another 10-week dance course and buy new basketball strips for the school teams.
Natalie said: “I can’t thank the Changing Lives Campaign enough for this financial backing, which is definitely a welcome boost for the school and has helped us improve internal links. We obviously do get money but funds tend to dry up when the financial year draws to a close, so anything extra we can get means we can keep the clubs going longer.
“The hip hop classes were extremely popular. It started with a choreographer from the Rangers Study Support Centre but then we realised that the boys, in particular, preferred the freestyle dancing. With that in mind we brought in a professional hip hop dancer, which proved very popular. It was the first time we had tried anything like that but it was such an inspiration it even hit the headlines on SKY Sports News, which was a tremendous boost for the pupils.”
This is the second year McIntosh, makers of traditional Scottish food made for today, has joined forces with The Daily Record, for the ‘Changing Lives’ Campaign. The campaign supports life enhancing, worthwhile projects across Scotland and seeks out ventures, investments, community projects and charities that make a difference to the every day lives of Scottish people.
Sales Director of McIntosh Ian Clarke commented: "As makers of traditional Scottish food and as a thriving Scottish business we know all about the warm-hearted nature of the Scots. That’s why we do everything we can to harness the support of local Scottish communities to make lives a little better for a lot of people.
“We fully support the efforts at St Roch’s to bring together children from diverse cultures, and were delighted to back both the dance classes and the basketball teams. We are sure the classes and teamwork will continue to inspire the pupils and add to the already thriving ethos of St Rochs.”
