Free copies of the Magna Carta for primary schools!

Exciting news!

We know it’s Friday afternoon, we know it’s (sort of) sunny and we know that ice cream exists, so we promise to keep this short.

The Magna Carta (www.bbc.co.uk)

We just wanted to do our bit though to let you know that the lovely folk at the Magna Carta Trust are about to send a copy of the Magna Carta to every primary school in the UK. So, if you’re at primary school make sure you watch out for this and ask your teachers if you can see it when it arrives!

(If you’re at secondary school or college then try not to feel too jealous, at least you get to go to bed later and you might even be able to grow a beard by now - if you’re a guy).

If you’d like to find out a bit more about this initiative then check out the following BBC article: www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-32393896

It also includes some really interesting points about the Magna Carta and links to other websites and resources, so it’s well worth a read.

Have a great weekend!

TOBMCT*

*The Oxford Brookes Magna Carta Team, just in case you weren’t sure.

Three Chancellors Debate - On Liberty, Magna Carta and Our Future

Magna Carta-ers!

That name is going to catch on soon, you’ll see. There’ll be t-shirts and hashtags and everything.

Now admittedly this post is a little belated, but you’ll never guess what happened here at Oxford Brookes on Friday 20 March? Basically, we had an all day party to celebrate the inauguration of our new Chancellor, Dr Katherine Grainger (she’s won four Olympic medals for rowing, how cool is that?), and the official opening of our new John Henry Brookes building (it’s never won an Olympic medal, because it’s a building, but it regulates its own temperature and looks quite fancy, so that’s pretty cool too right?).

Our new Chancellor and her three
predecessors (www.brookes.ac.uk)

Anyway, you might be forgiven for thinking why does this matter to you, lovers of all things MC? Well, during this massive celebration our three former Chancellors, Jon Snow from Channel 4 News, the director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti and the barrister Helena Kennedy, took part in a debate called On Liberty, Magna Carta and Our Future.

We were lucky enough to attend (we snuck in like a 13^th century James Bond) and it was a really brilliant debate during which these three great individuals spoke about the Magna Carta and its ongoing relevance today, particularly with regards to liberty and human rights.

And we’re not just bragging, we wanted to let you know that you can watch a video of this debate in full here: https://lecturecapture.brookes.ac.uk/Mediasite/Play/7f1d48e435c144f7bce68666ef7e79a91d

So get some popcorn, turn off your phone and settle in.

Happy viewing!

The Oxford Brookes Magna Carta Team

Magna Carta Resource Pack

Hello Magna Carta-ers!

Ok, it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but give it time. ‘Directioners’ probably sounded a bit silly at first.

We hope you had a brilliant Easter break and didn’t miss these blog posts too much. Realistically we were never going to maintain our initial rate of a post a day, but hopefully you were too busy eating chocolate to notice. Did you know that the right to eat as many Easter eggs as you want without feeling guilty was one of the original clauses in the Magna Carta?*

Protected by the Magna Carta
(www.dailyrecord.co.uk)

Anyway, enough of that, this is another exciting post. In addition to writing this super modern blog, last month we also went a bit old skool and produced a special Magna Carta Resource Pack. Richard Huggins, our Principal Lecturer in Politics and Sociology, led on this and it’s pretty brilliant. To be fair we knew it would be, as Richard has a great beard and an even greater knowledge of the Magna Carta.

The pack consists of a workbook and seven worksheets and its aim is to provide young people with an introduction both to the Magna Carta and its relevance to important issues in the world today. In some ways it’s been written more for teachers to help them with planning lessons about the Magna Carta, and we have sent copies in the post to schools and colleges across Oxfordshire, but maybe you want to check it out yourself. Because you’re not from Oxfordshire. Or you want to make sure your teacher’s got a copy. Or you’re just a maverick.

So good news, you can download both the workbook and the worksheets here (under the Magna Carta Resource Pack bit): www.brookes.ac.uk/magnacarta

We hope you enjoy it and as ever feel free to get in touch at magnacarta2015@brookes.ac.uk if you have any questions.

Happy reading!

The Oxford Brookes Magna Carta Team

*It wasn't, but it totally should have been.

Activities you can get involved in!

Hello again,

It’s only been a day since we launched our Magna Carta blog and we’re already writing our second post. We’re quicker than Usain Bolt in rollerblades. On a speed boat.

Usain Bolt on a speed boat
(www.telegraph.co.uk)

Anyway, this is an important one. Did you know that as well as running this blog we’re also putting on some activities to celebrate the Magna Carta’s 800^th birthday? This means that not only can you learn more about the Magna Carta by regularly checking this page, you can also visit us at Oxford Brookes University. And you totally should, we’ve got biscuits and everything.

Here are the main two activities we’re running for young people from Oxfordshire and beyond:

Modern Magna Carta Challenge
This is a challenge to young people, like you, to create a modern Magna Carta for the world we live in today. What’s missing from the original? What should a modern charter include? You don’t have to write this on an old piece of parchment either, you can be as creative as you want. Make a video, take some photographs, create a Facebook page - it’s completely up to you.

The best of these exhibits will then be displayed in a city-wide exhibition, A Modern Magna Carta, in Oxford Brookes University’s Glass Tank Gallery from June 22 - July 24 2015. The exhibition will then go on tour (like a rock star) to the Museum of Oxford and be displayed there from July 29 - August 19 2015. Even better, while the exhibition is here at Oxford Brookes we’re going to put on a fancy evening for you, your family, your teachers and your friends. We might even order some posh food.

The deadline for submitting exhibits is Friday 22 May 2015. We know this doesn’t leave you loads of time and we are sorry about that, but that being said it is currently the Easter holidays, so get to it!

Posh food (www.trentbridge.co.uk)

Magna Carta Symposium
This is a unique one-day event that we’re hosting at Oxford Brookes University on Thursday 18 June 2015. It will include staff and students from across the University delivering workshops inspired by the Magna Carta, as well as a keynote speech by a special guest speaker (we’re hoping to get Jay-Z, he did release an album about the Magna Carta after all). Oh and we’ll even provide lunch!

If you’d like to get involved with both or either of these activities then please e-mail us at magnacarta2015@brookes.ac.uk. If you’re a student in Oxfordshire then it might be worth mentioning it to your teachers too as we have contacted all primary and secondary schools directly about this. Teachers are very busy though so just show them this blog if they haven’t had chance to read our letter. Oh and maybe buy them a cupcake too.

We hope to see you soon,

The Oxford Brookes Magna Carta Team