News
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Olympic chief visits school taking part in Tree of Light
Last month, Olympics chief Andy Hunt visited Oxfordshire to discover more about the county’s contribution to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
As part of his day long visit, he met with children at St Joseph’s Primary School in Headington, Oxford, which is part of the Get Set network – the official London 2012 education programme aiming to inspire pupils through the Games.
The school is also one of the 40 groups in the region participating in Cultural Olympiad project the Tree of Light.
The project, which has now entered its creative phase, has seen school and community groups along the River Thames work on the themes and ideas to be used for next summer’s spectacular performances.
In imaginative workshops led by tree specialists, the participating groups have already discovered the rich life of trees. Now, during this new phase of the project, they will work alongside artists to turn their findings into tree inspired ‘stories’ – using theatre, storytelling, visual and digital arts, amongst other mediums.
During Mr Hunt’s visit, Arboriculturalist Luke Tamblyn climbed into a tree canopy, giving the children below – who were watching through a monitor screen – a ‘tree’s eye view’ of the landscape and a sense of what the tree ‘hears’.
Throughout the remaining workshops at the school, which will continue until Christmas, the youngsters at St Joseph’s will create films with filmmaker Brek Taylor.
Mr Hunt, chief executive of the British Olympics Association and Chef de Mission for the GB Olympics team, said: “It is projects like these that demonstrate just how much of an impact London 2012 is having right across the UK, not just on sport but on education and culture too.”
Following on from his visit, Andy Hunt also went to Home Farm Trust in Abingdon to take part in the Paralympic sport of Boccia with young adults with learning disabilities.
He then visited King Alfred’s School in Wantage, another school in the Get Set network.
