The National Grid for Learning

Dear Colleague,

This special edition of our newsletter focuses on some unique opportunities for LGfL Schools; to get involved in Antarctic Quest 21 - A Commemoration of the Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton. 

Read on for more information, but note the narrow deadlines involved with some of the competition deadlines.

What is Antarctic Quest 21?

In keeping with the values of the early explorers and Shackleton himself, Antarctic Quest 21 will travel into the untrodden regions of the Antarctic Peninsula to undertake essential science and exploration. Operating in this region is no easy task, with a considerable climatic and environmental challenge. The only mechanism of movement across the unforgiving terrain is by manually hauling all that is needed for the team’s survival, as we as all the scientific equipment. 

‘Man-haul’ is very much in the spirit of Shackleton’s heroic and historic achievements, and the expedition team will hold a commemoration service in his honour on the ice on 5^th January 2022. This will take place on the East Coast of the Peninsula, overlooking the Weddell Sea, and the site of Shackelton’s legendary Endurance Expedition. 

In support of this Quest, LGfL also have the following site with more information and video footage.

How can LGfL schools get involved?

Teacher Training Event

This teacher training event on 23rd November at 4pm will be led by Antony Jinman, a Polar explorer who has undertaken a variety of expeditions in the past and is part of the Antarctic Quest 21 Team. Attendees will hear about his upcoming expedition and how to teach about the Antarctic (and Polar regions) in an effective cross-curricular way.

This event is aimed at primary teachers (both KS1 and KS2) and will last 45 minutes maximum and will be hosted on Zoom. There will be an opportunity for questions at the end. Antony is passionate about teachers #makingitreal and will offer advice about how to do this. He also believes it is a great opportunity for teachers to follow up on COP26, the environment and climate change.

Meet a Real Life Polar Explorer

The 'Meet a Real Life Polar Explorer' session is for pupils. It will be held on 6th December at 2pm via Zoom. This could be attended by an individual class, Year Group or the whole school as a special assembly. 

The session will last no longer than 45 minutes to allow for pupils to get back to their classrooms, discuss what they have learnt and also be ready for the end of the school day. 

(Once we have a database of the schools that wish to attend we will be sending more information and requesting that questions are submitted in advance to allow Antony to respond to as many as possible throughout the session).

LGfL School Flag Opportunity

LGfL will be commissioning the creation of a new flag which will be taken on the Antarctic Quest Expedition 21. The flag will display the expedition logo, LGfL logo and up to 25 LGfL school logos can be added to the flag.

The flag will also be taken on the expedition and photographs will be taken of the flag (and all the logos) when on Antarctica.

The Antarctic Quest 21 Expedition Logo Design Competition

Any school can submit entries to the Antarctic Quest Expedition Logo Design Competition. Your pupils can submit their ideas for what the expedition logo could be. (See image to the right for the template and click here to download to scale).

The winning design will be printed onto the Antarctic Quest Expedition 21 flag alongside the chosen school logos. 

For inspiration - shown to the left is the winning design (made digital) for the 2013-2014 ETE Teachers South Pole Mission.

We suggest you discuss the Antarctic Quest 21 expedition aims and brainstorm ideas together prior to setting this task with your pupils.

Further information about the Antarctic Quest 21 expedition can be found here.

The Antarctic Quest 21 Poetry Competitions

There is an opportunity for one LGfL school to have a pupil's poem read out as part of the Shackleton Memorial Service on Antarctica during the Antarctic Quest 21 expedition in 2022 and a further opportunity to enter a poem at the end of the Expedition.

The poems submitted for the memorial should be inspired by the content on LGfL's Polar Resource site featuring Antony Jinman and/or the LGfL Heroic Age of Scientific Discovery site.

Poems should be submitted in text version and should fit onto an A4 standard page.

Poems for the memorial need to be submitted by 5th December (since we need to judge the competition and have a printed version for Antony to take on the expedition in order to read out at the Memorial Service on 5th January marking Shackleton's death).

The second poetry competition should be inspired by the Antarctic Quest 21 Expedition. A selection of poems for the end of the expedition will be chosen but will need to be submitted by 20th January 2022, prior to the team's return journey.

Follow the Antarctic Quest Expedition Live

Follow the Antarctic Quest Expedition ‘Man-haul’ live via the expedition website here. The team depart on 10th December 2021 and return home on 1st February 2022. 

Some of you get may get this e-mail when a colleague forwards it to you; if that's you, do consider signing yourself up to keep up to date. 

Regards,
Your Learning Resource Consultants
Laura Smith and Bradley Dardis

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