Ark Globe Academy’s mission statement is to prepare their students for university and to be leaders of their community. To support this, the Academy has developed a rigorous enrichment programme that aims to give students new and exciting opportunities, which will enable them to build upon their existing skills and knowledge, as well as broaden their horizons. The Academy partners with businesses from a variety of sectors, charities, local community and the government in order to deliver this ambitious programme.
One of the recently completed projects ‘Head Start’ showcases the success of this collaboration initiated by the Academy. Thirty of Ark Globe’s Year 10 students participated in this 12 week programme, which was designed and delivered by the charity The Challenge with the London Bubble Theatre, Football Beyond Borders and Lendlease. With the theatre and football charities, students worked on confidence and presentation skills as well as promoting a community based project which was completely designed by themselves. Another focus of the programme was employability skills, as well as interview practice and work experience with Lendlease.
After the first 6 weeks of the programme, students prepared a play and a spoken word performance to be performed at the City Hall, in front of an audience including Matthew Ryder, London’s deputy mayor for social integration, social mobility and community engagement.
“We would like to challenge
the perceptions of young people
and our community
The event was called ‘Social Action Showcase’ in which students addressed themes which matter to them in their performances and presentations including prejudice, sexism, body shaming, stress, stereotypes, cyber bullying, anxiety and peer pressure. The students started their performance by saying: “We would like to challenge the perceptions of young people and our community” and throughout the event, they wowed the audience, as evident on social media with praises by both individuals and organisations. After the Showcase, the Head Start programme continued for another 6 weeks with employability skill booster workshops by the international construction company, Lendlease.
Enrichment activities are offered to each and every student at Ark Globe, and they can be life-changing experiences for them. Ciaran Thapar, a Youth Worker and Freelance Journalist, said: “To see Ibrahim, a student I previously worked with, stand up in City Hall and voluntarily answer questions put forward from the crowd, on behalf of his friends and community, was genuinely a sight to behold. I have no doubt that the opportunity empowered him.”
The benefits of these programmes are not just one-sided; working with schools and empowering students at an earlier age is rewarding for a business and even the sector as a whole. Brands2Life, a PR and communications agency, has recently worked with Ark Globe students on several projects. Naomi Longworth, Practice Director at the firm commented on the inclusivity issue in the PR sector and said that inclusivity starts with schools, tackling problems before people enter the workplace.
“Enrichment days are crucial for students to gain a realistic job preview of what PR and marketing is all about,” Naomi said. “If every marcomms department and agency could form a partnership with a local school in their borough we could make sustainable progress in developing aspirational talent that is attracted to work in the industry.”
Any business or organisation which would like to help develop the next generation of business leaders and build successful working lives can get in touch with the academy’s Vice Principal Business and Community, Jo Watts at J.Watts@globeacademy.org.
ARK GLOBE ACADEMY
Harper Rd
SE1 6AG
t: 020 7407 6877
e: info@globeacademy.org
w: arkglobe.org
