Press on thumbnail to see a full sized image
|
December 2004 PRESS RELEASE: The Ridings represent Europe in UN global link-up. . . On Friday 3 December ‘A’ Level History and Politics students at The Ridings High School represented the UK and European Union in a United Nations sponsored video conference from New York . The Ridings High School was chosen on the strength of the school’s international education and its innovative use of video conferencing which has been pioneered by Mr R Ford, Head of History. Ten other schools from parts of America , the Dominican Republic , Canada , Mexico and South Africa , joined The Ridings in a global forum to discuss international cooperation. There was a tense moment at the start because six attempts had to be made to connect The Ridings to the forum, and, amazingly, this was due to the United Nations’ equipment, not the school’s!! Once underway, the conference was an amazing experience. It was possible to see the United Nation’s conference room and split screen images of the other schools involved. Unfortunately, because of the delay with the link it was not possible to communicate with Kofi Annan himself. The Under-Secretary-General, Mr Shashi Tharoor, deputised on behalf of General Annan. Dr Gibson, Head at The Ridings High School stated, “It is a great honour to have been selected as the only school in the UK and Europe for such as prestigious event. The global video-conference link with schools throughout the world and the involvement with the United Nations, makes this an event that the school and students will continue to talk about for years to come.” Mr R Ford, said, “The conference surpassed all expectations and enforces the message of how education is changing in response to changes in technology. It was just an amazing opportunity for all schools who took part in the conference.” END
|