LAUNCH OF CITIZENSHIP MODULE
The High Sheriff of Leicestershire, Mrs Freda Hussain and the Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland local Criminal Justice Board, Mrs Linda Jones, hosted the launch of a new citizenship module on Law and Order for KS4 students at County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester, on Wednesday 1st December 2004. Baroness Scotland, Minister of State at the Home Office attended in recognition of the importance attached to raising the confidence of communities and especially young people from ethnic communities, in the effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System.
The idea for this module of work came from the Race Equality Sub-committee of the Criminal Justice Board at which Judge Richard Pollard, Chairman, Mrs Freda Hussain, Headteacher of Moat Community College, Leicester, Mrs Linda Jones, then Head of the Probation Service in Leicestershire & Ruland and Mrs Maggie Wilson, MIC Co-ordinator for Leics and Rutland, became particularly interested in the formation of a resource for the teaching of Citizenship in Secondary Schools. Judge Pollard put in a bid for money to facilitate the employment of someone in education to write the module as well as to draw together resources from the various agencies connected with young people an the justice system. Unfortunately he was unable to secure the necessary money but it was the determination of Freda Hussain that sufficient resources were gained from the local Education Action Zone and the Probation Service to turn this dream into a reality.
This Citizenship module was commissioned from the Leicester City Cluster and the work of drawing together the different resources from the various agencies and writing up the module was given to Mrs K Ives. The Teacher Resource Pack, consisting of over 20 activity lessons with suggested lesson plans and relevant teacher/pupil resources, is now being piloted in eleven schools across the city and county. It aims to increase young people's awareness of the agencies that comprise the Criminal Justice System and the impact that crime can have on their lives and the lives of others.
Baroness Scotland said that she was "over the moon" about the module and would be mentioning it at meetings all around the country.
More information can be obtained from Kay Ives, at the
Knighton Fields Centre
Herrick Road
Leicester LE2 6DH
Tele: 0016 270 7942 Fax: 0116 270 9759
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Conference held on Friday 18th October 2002
at Leicester City Football Ground
- sponsored by the DTI
"Minority Ethnic Women - taking a greater part in Public Life"
Left to right: Maggie Wilson, Marion Whitby, Pam Comfort Daniels,
Janet Higgins, Linda Shaw and Baroness Scotland
The conference was aimed at encouraging women from minority-ethnic groups to take greater role in public life. It was well supported and the Magistrates' Association stand, having the best position in the hall, just by the door, created much interest. Throughout the day, delegates came to find out more about the magistracy and the role of the magistrate.
Nearly 30 left their details saying that they were interested in becoming a magistrate or would welcome a presentation about the magistracy to a community group with which they had involvement. The details of those interested in becoming a magistrate were passed on to the local Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee and Fitzroy Square.