Letters from Alperton students reached Downing Street earlier this week supporting a petition with 12,000 pleas to help children affected by war. The petition – part of the Learn To Live campaign, led by Evening Standard and War Child Charity – aims to persuade governments to do more to help children affected by war, who struggle to get a full-time education or receive the mental health support they need. The campaign has been calling adults to sign the petition and school children to write letters to Theresa May.
Evening Standard published examples of what students wrote in their letters to the Prime Minister and three of our students were quoted in the article.
At the start of the campaign, our art teacher Andria Zafirakou, winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2018, worked together with Evening Standard on a collaborative art project that brought together schools from London, Jordan, Iraq and Central African Republic.
Through this and other projects, the campaign has connected thousands of pupils around the world, allowing them to share experiences and inspire each other. Three hundred schools across the country have signed up to be twinned with schools across the world and many thousands of UK children have reached out to other children to share their experiences and talk about their lives.
Andria and our teachers from the History department who were also involved in the project, Ms Cathcart and Mr Rebbit, were deeply moved by some of our students’ stories:
“Taking part in this project has really been inspirational. Many of my colleagues and I have been moved to tears listening to the stories of some of our students expressing their journeys. It’s been a privilege to acknowledge the reality of their past and gives us the motivation to ensure that we are sowing the seeds for a better future.” (Andria Zafirakou)
