Festival goes up, up and away

PHOTOCALL - Monday 21 June, 2010 - 5.15pm

Rotherham's Children and Young People's Festival will be getting a lift when it gets underway next week.

The amazing festival which runs until July 9 combines a host of innovative and exciting events under one spectacular roof - the Magna Science and Adventure Centre.

The world-renowned visitor attraction will see everything from Rotherham's version of the Oscars to Shakespeare and a Big Sing throughout the three week event.

It all gets under way with a balloon launch by the Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Rose McNeely, who will be joined by children attending the Festival's first event - the Picture This! exhibition.

Rotherham's 'Picture This' project is taken directly from the National Gallery's country wide scheme 'Take One Picture' and challenges pupils at local schools to use the pictures imaginatively in classrooms as a stimulus for creative work in areas such as literacy, mathematics, ICT, art, music, history, dance and drama.

The fruits of their labours this year will be on show throughout the Festival at Magna.

Also taking place during the Festival's first week are:

- The launch of a new partnership between Rotherham United Football Club and RMBC Children and Young People's Services which will see the Millers supporting all Rotherham Schools in a variety of projects as diverse as health, truancy and anti-bullying.

- Inspire Master Class - Inspire Rotherham will be working with local children on an exciting literary event with guests, children's author Jamie Rix and children's book illustrator Chris Wormell.

- Maths Masterclass - Kjartan Poskitt, TV presenter and author of the 'Murderous Maths' series of books will be leading a special presentation for pupils and their families who have been involved in a maths masterclass.

-  Rotherham Ready, the borough's renowned schools enterprise learning project, is holding its annual conference. The 'Made in Rotherham' event will share the breadth and depth of our enterprise in education with exciting key note speakers, workshops and a young person-led enterprise learning market.

 - Two Summer Proms, organised by Rotherham Schools Music Service, where all the junior and intermediate ensembles from our music centre will take part.

- Two performances of the musical Blood Brothers by local Creative and Media Diploma students on Wednesday 23 June, at 10am and 1pm. This production of Blood Brothers includes singing, dancing and drama, and will be the culmination of the premier year of the Creative and Media Diploma being run in Rotherham. For further information please contact ann.speight@rotherham.gov.uk

- Inspire for Life - an event aimed at carers and others who are involved with supporting or working with children in care. The event includes workshops to share resources and expertise to engage the children in literacy to improve their life chances.

The balloons for the launch have been provided by Ultimate Balloons as part of their sponsorship of the event.