The highly anticipated Educational Symposium at City St Georges saw the Haringey African Schools Partnership celebrate its eight affiliated schools in a morning of seminars and discussions, co-led by HiH and City St Georges’ staff.
By Omar Alleyne-Lawler, Communications and Police Engagement Manager
Four local schools participating in HiH’s Haringey African Schools Partnership (HASP) were boosted last week when invited to present at HiH’s, HASP Educational Symposium. Organised showcase the hard work each of the partners had accomplished in the past year, the event serves as an example of what can be achieved when the primary, secondary and tertiary educational partners, charity and private sector collaborate.
Using City St George’s University of London’s state-of-the-art lecture theatres for the first time, the partnership came together, marking the continued growth of this mutually beneficial partnership. Operating as an extension of HiH’s mandate to enrich the lives of Haringey’s young people, HASP focuses on cultural and educational benefits by sharing transformational educational capital. In attendance for this landmark event would be representatives from Park View School, Dukes Aldridge Academy, Mulberry Academy Woodside, London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, Harris Academy Tottenham and Esther Akafia of Pioneers International Academy, Ghana.
Professor Inderjeet Parmar of City and HiH’s Tom May co-compere’d for the event
Outlining their activities across the symposium’s four main themes of ‘IT and learning’, ‘oracy for democracy’, ‘literacy and resilience’ and ‘global perspectives on education’, the partners showcased their work – being encouraged by the relational nature of this collaborative, international partnership.
Also contributing to the symposium would be guest speakers from City University; Professor Atul Shah and Dr. Sasikumar Sundaram, Sister System’s Okela Douglas, SI.SA’s Seun Oduwole, Coach Bright’s Joe McGinn and City University’s Poet Creative in Residence, Chloe Carterr. Partner schools unable to attend also contributed to the event via pre-recorded videos. It meant guests were able to come face to face – albeit virtually with the founding ambassador, Jennifer Musisi as well as students and teachers from Okrika State National School (Nigeria), Buntaba Primary School (Uganda) and Educaid Rolal (Sierra Leone).
Following this latest conference, HASP’s next steps will be to continue the existing partnerships, enriching one another through pen pal schemes, creative endeavours and face-to-face visitations. Additionally, partnered schools will also receive a bespoke enrichment programme led by City University staff. Aimed at developing the critical and independent thinking skills of year 9 students and older, this initiative aims to aid students in their transition from tertiary into higher education.
Students from 4 Haringey schools attended including London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, Park View, Mulberry Academy Woodside and Park View.
Chloe Carterr performed her hit poem ‘Flowers’ for attendees
Yet the day would also see the announcement of a new, parallel project made possible because of HASP. Warmly introduced by Professor Inderjeet Parmar, the coming months will see a research project led by The Finsbury Institute. The institute, which is “a new outward facing hub for policy research and practice, based in the School of Policy and Global Affairs” at City, will ask how young people perceive, react and understand the current crises in our society. This research aims to give young people a platformed voice to policymakers and government officials who they hope will consider young people in their policy-making decisions.
On the symposium, Professor Parmar said: “It was an inspiring event of a kind I have never experienced before, especially in a university setting! The students were amazing and their energy was infectious. The messages from the west African schools were so moving as was Esther’s speech and life story.”