Projects

World Jungle delivers circus workshops for all ages and in a variety of settings, including for schools, with uniformed groups, children's parties and at festivals.

We have worked across Bristol to train up projects working with children over the holiday period. This training was funded and supported by BAND (Bristol Assoc. of Neighbourhood Daycare) and we were able to leave each club with a £100 box of circus equipment and the staff and children with the skills to use the equipment including juggling balls, diablos, stilts, plate spinning and poi .

We also have a weekly Circus Fun Club which meets on Wednesday evenings from 5pm-6pm at Cam Memorial Hall. Recently, Dursley Rotary Club made a donation of a £100 towards the club also donated a unicycle from one of the member's daughters, which came all the way from Germany. John Grove, President of Dursley Rotary Club said, "We are really pleased to be able to support youth activities in the area and this circus club has done a great job of involving children of all ages and backgrounds."

Supported by the Windsor Family Trust, World Junge has been able to support the showcasing of local talent and engage young people in the planning of the Youth Showcase event that was part of 2011's Dursley Town Festival . We have also been able to train up two local young people from' Youth Dance Movement' to deliver the Arts Award qualification.

In partnership with Breakheart Community Project (BCP), World Jungle has been successful in obtaining funding from the Cotswold Sustainable Development Fund for the D.E.E.P. project.

The project will give local children the opportunity to discover Breakheart Quarry in Dursley which is recognized as being regionally important for its geology, ancient woodlands and supporting a number of rare species including the dormouse. The children will be able to explore the variety of habitats and wildlife, enjoy taking part in natural learning and play activities whilst also learning how to protect the environment for future generations.

As part of the funding, we can take up to 12 groups of children to the Breakheart Quarry site to take part in environmental learning and play. Groups could be from local schools, playgroups, scout and other youth groups. We also have the opportunity to provide free training for those interested in working with children outdoors exploring the many issues around children's learning and play in the natural environment. Please contact us if you would be interested in getting involved.

World Jungle has been a regular contributor to the Dursley Town Festival. As part of 2011's annual event World Jungle organised the showcase tent which had over 20 groups perform and showcase their talents to the wider community. This included Zumba demonstrations, Dursley Circus Group, Dursley Dollies, Bellydance, Street dance and lots more. In addition and new for 2011, as part of the festival World Jungle organised the Children's Area providing a whole range of activities for children including arts and crafts, drumming, circus, trashion fashion and many more.

During the festival season, World Jungle's festival team is busy at events across the country providing children's activities as well as music and dance from around the world for adults.

The highlight of 2011 was definitely WOMAD where a team of 18 provided children's activities over 4 days including African drumming, henna hand art, reflexology, zumba, giant mandalas and even cricket! Our 2011 season finished off at Stroud Fringe festival where again we provided a range of activities such as circus skills, creative arts as well as running free tasters in Capoiera and Zumba.

GET DANCING! World Jungle has been supporting people of all ages to get involved in dance. Supported by Sport England, World Jungle has been able to put on a series of dance tasters and 10 week sessions in a range of different dance genres to engage and motivate people of all ages (from children and young people to elders) with the aim of supporting them to continue attending classes as well as supporting individuals to become dance tutors.

Residents of Cam & Dursley have had the opportunity to try out dance tasters in a wide range of styles including Salsa, Street, Urban, Burlesque, Can Can, Carribean, Breakdance and African.

The project hopes to lead to increased and sustained participation in Dance, an increase in activity and fitness levels of participants as well as developing individuals from the community as tutors to sustain the programme when funding has finished.

Global Fusion 2011 was a series of world music nights that took place in Stroud at the Lansdown Hall & Gallery (formerly The Space). The nights included the amazing DJ Alain Hernandez from Cuba, Zavoala from the Ivory Coast and the African Allstars

World Jungle's Global Play Project supported by the BIG Lottery Fund enabled thousands of children and young people to have the opportunity to explore cultural diversity in fun and exciting ways. It included the best traditional games from around the world which have been tried and tested over generations delivered by artists from Ghana, Jamaica, Tanzania, Guyana, Argentina, Pakistan and England.

We worked with over 1700 children from across Bristol & Gloucestershire and trained over 180 play workers. The project was recently recognised by the Institute of Community Cohesion (DfID) receiving a National Award for Promoting Intercultural Dialogue and which has helped to give the project national profile. The programme was also cited by the Big Lottery Fund as a model of good practice http://www2.biglotteryfund.org.uk/playful_ideas_eval.pdf

Building on the success of the project, World Jungle secured a contract to deliver Global Play training for Play-workers and Early Years workers in Somerset and Devon and also ran the training at a South West play celebration event held in March 2011.

Key Elements:
• Global Play sessions with children in parks, schools and play settings.
• Training of teachers, early years, play and youth workers in global games.
• Equalities & Anti- Racism training for staff.
• Development of resource pack to support other projects interested in delivering global play experiences.

A copy of the evaluation of the project will be available shortly. Also please visit our 'Global Play' section for further details.

Following the successful development of Highfields Park by World Jungle at the end of 2010 thanks to a grant from the BIG Lottery which included a new swing, climbing area, youth shelter and BMX track, World Jungle provided ongoing play sessions on the park over summer 2011. These included a major fun day attracting over 300 people where all activities were free as well smaller sessions including an outdoor cooking sessions, a circus skills day as well as art activities.

This year our work has included working with a range of special schools including The Shrubberies, St. Roses as well as supporting some of the short breaks clubs around the county. From Circus skills to Global play, these workshops have been rewarding and specially adapted to the needs of the students.

Working with our partners at 2QAB in Bristol, World Jungle has been part of a Grundtvig programme to share skills and experiences across the European Union involving visits to Vienna, Austria and Konstanz in Germany and engaging adults in learning.

Supported with funding from the local NHS, World Jungle is running a new health and fitness programme for children and young people. The programme will be based around the new dance fitness craze known as ZumbAtomic, with the aim of creating healthy behaviour and so improving health and fitness in the long-term.

World Jungle will run ZumbAtomic tasters in schools within the Berkeley Vale Cluster to give all pupils an experience of Zumba. This will be followed by a programme of classes at various community venues which initially will be offered at subsidised rates to encourage a higher take-up of places. In addition the project will also involve World Jungle providing training for those working with children and young people on how to deliver physical activity sessions. This will include elements of dance fitness as well as a range of play based activities and non competitive games which will support staff with ideas to get children more active.

Feedback: Head Teacher, Berkeley Primary School
"I just wanted to thank you for Friday's Zumba in school. I have to say I had not seen so many children with such huge smiles in one activity, it was simply fantastic! The children who surprised us most were the ones who are usually so quiet and shy they really shone with confidence and a real sense of fun. Thank you so much and I am looking forward to the after school club and so many of the children are too."

Working alongside Play Gloucestershire's Play Rangers, World Jungle has been cooking up culinary delights in local parks engaging children in healthy eating and cooking over fires, some of the favourites being homemade pizzas, Indian pakoras and of course marshmallows!

Part of our work with schools involved a major event at the Ridings International Academy with a special celebration of International Day for all their pupils. Workshops took in Commedia dell Arte, Asian Storytelling, African Drumming & Dance and Reggaeton catering for over 300 children at a time.

Part of World Jungle's ongoing support for artists involved a special event for multi-cultural artists across the South West offering them the opportunity to network, promote themselves and hear from a range of key agencies such as the Creative Learning Agency, Arts Council, Social Enterprise Works and 2QAB. Over 40 artists attended the day with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Thanks to DMAC UK for the venue for the day!

During summer 2011 on behalf of Cotswold District Council and Cirencester Town Council World Jungle organised a holiday programme of activities for children across the Cotswolds. This included over 50 activities including bollywood dancing, DJ skills, football training, circus skills, funky junk art workshops, felt making, drama workshops, play day events and play rangers sessions.

Download Summer 2011 Brochure (to see an overview of the events that were included).

World Jungle has a range of volunteer opportunities including general administration, working with children outdoors, event management, marketing and fundraising. We currently have three volunteers working with us on a part-time basis. If you are interested in volunteering in World Jungle please contact us.

World Jungle has a range of projects aimed at the older generation including low impact zumba, singing and chair workouts delivered by specialised tutors experienced in working with this age group.We have worked with a number of organisations in this area including local care homes and Age UK (Gloucestershire) .

Kate Gordon, Activities Co-ordinator, Cleeve Hill Nursing Home: "We booked Richard for a drumming workshop as part of our 'Winter Sunshine' theme week. He arrived with a smile, a bright outfit and plenty of drums and shakers which allowed everyone to participate (even those with limited mobility). Residents, staff and family visitors were all encouraged to join in and we all enjoyed played along with Richard's traditional African melodies and songs…it was the talk of the Supper table that evening! Will definitely booked again!"

In 2011 both Jane Manning and Ben Ward from World Jungle became part of the Zumba Instructors Network. Zumba links in well with World Jungle's core aims and values, incorporating music/dance from around the world, improving health and fitness as well as introducing people to new 'flavours' and experiences.

Jane has been specialising in the lower impact form known as Zumba Gold while Ben has specialised in running Zumbatomic classes aimed at children and young people.  A range of classes are available around the Stroud district.  For more details on classes, or if you would like Ben or Jane to deliver a taster session for your club, group or school please contact us.