Citizens UK with St Paul's Academy at the CopperBox Arena
with
6000 students, staff
and politicians join as a community to debate current issues affecting London
residents at the CopperBox Arena.
The picture
about is the conclusion to a series of workshops, presentations and active
learning of students at St Paul’s Academy with Citizens UK this year. This was
a fruitful relationship in which empowered the students to engage in local
issues such as affordable housing and the London Living Wage. A highlight of this
and one that really showcased how our students are assets to our school
community, was consolidated with Dylan Wiggins producing an amazing speech to a
sell-out 6000 strong crowd of students and politicians at the Copperbox Arena.
This
can be seen at below:
On
Thursday 28th April students from Year 10 Geography, Choir members
under the expert guidance of Claire Viner and Richard Mayne and Diana Webb’s outstanding
Citizens UK work group supported and celebrated Dylan’s achievements. Richard
Mayne will elaborated further on in this later on in the piece.
The students were able to listen to the two Mayor candidates (Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan) in the lead up to the London Mayor
Elections on May 5th. The Year 10 in particular drew on knowledge
that links into their WJEC GCSE curriculum on ‘Theme 1: Challenges in the Built Environment’. The topics that were
of interest included affordable housing, youth employment and the London
economy, in particular the London Living Wage. All topics are of vital
importance on their future lives. A recent article in The Guardian has
suggested the average age of youth moving out to buy their own properties has
now reached the age of 34 years. This coincides with over 5 billion pounds
being paid by parents in 2016 for their children to access the housing market.
One of the core
campaigns debated by the electorates after moving speeches by some of London’s
student population.
Both politicians have pledged
commitment to tackle London’s housing crisis and have supported many of the
proposals presented by the community action group Citizens UK. The group used
students from around Newham, Stratford and as far reaching as Abbey Wood, to
give inspiring speeches on how housing, migrant status and job security were
factors that affected their lives today. Lateef Lawal summarises the evening perfectly by quoting ‘Attending the CopperBox Arena made me
more aware of the current issues affecting immigrants for asylum status in
London. Witnessing the Mayor Electorates allowed me to understand issues of
housing, employment of youth and the London Living Wage. I never realised the
amount of teenagers with the potential to shape London’s society for the
future. Working with Citizens UK has allowed me to be a decision-maker and open
the eyes of MPs, like Theresa Pearce, on issues such as improving local housing
in Thamesmead. I felt empowered by being a voice that could be heard ’.
St Paul’s Academy students outside the CopperBox Arena.
Hearing the London Mayor Electorates outline their terms of tenure
in relation to the proposals of Citizens UK was an invaluable experience to our
children. However, it would naïve to assume this was the most defining moment.
To promote sustainable change we must engage and empower our students in issues
of this significance. It is paramount to facilitate more of these experiences
for our students – who are active members of the London community – to become the
citizens that are the catalysts of change. Dylan Wiggins depicts one of these
citizens whose powerful speech captivated the audience and he is a future star
in the making!
Have a look at the videos from our YouTube Channel below:
Have a look at the videos from our YouTube Channel below:
#Where is your next geographical classroom?
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