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News from Diane Abbott

Posted by Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, at 15:13, Wed 11 October 2006:

London Schools and the Black Child 2006 Conference

This year’s London Schools and the Black Child—Empowering Our Children For Success conference was held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on 9th September. It was attended by nearly 2000 parents, teachers, community activists and educationalists. The conference aims to tackle the problem of persistent educational under-achievement of black pupils, boys in particular, and seeks to devise practicable ways of raising standards.

More than a decade ago I started working to reverse these trends. Hackney has one of the biggest populations of African and Caribbean heritage children in the country and the problems black pupils experienced at school were very familiar to us here in Hackney. I therefore decided to bring together local educationalists, parents and politicians to examine what was going wrong in our schools, why were our schools failing our black children? I held several local conferences to address the issue. All were oversubscribed and people came from all over London, even from other parts of the country, to participate. There was a clear and shared understanding that the future of the UK’s African and Caribbean communities is heavily dependent on what happens here in our London schools. After all, more than 60% of all Caribbean and more than 80% of all African heritage pupils are taught in greater London. It was therefore apparent that the issue was not localised and with the help of the Mayor of London I made it a London-wide conference.

The conference has been very successful in its solutions-focused approach. It has supported the black community in devising self-help strategies. Saturday supplementary schools, for example, have proved very effective and have mitigated some pupils’ failure in mainstream schools. But state schools should provide for all. We therefore still have to tackle issues of institutional racism and teacher under-expectation, we need more black teachers in the classroom, we need stronger discipline and we need to promote the celebration of our children’s cultural heritage.

The causes of the problem are wide ranging and complex so we all have a role to play. Of course the persistent underachievement is not just a ‘black problem’. Failure to draw upon the talent and resources of our black communities will have a serious and detrimental impact on London’s economy and therefore our economy as a whole. But one thing the conferences have brought home to me is that no one will ever again be able to say that black parents and the black community do not value education or have ambitions for their children. It is very clear to me that the black community will no longer tolerate low levels of attainment and achievement for their children - the black community more than ever before is ready to save the next generation of black children. We have made real progress in this area but there is still work to do. However, I am confident that this year’s conference took us one step closer to ensuring that all children in London schools perform to the best of their abilities.

LSBC Annual Awards 2006 - Hackney Boy Steals the Show

As a curtain raiser for this year’s London Schools and the Black Child (LSBC) conference I organised a London-wide schools competition for high achieving African and African-Caribbean children. Alex Mbaya, a Hackney Community College student, was awarded the Outstanding Achievement at A Level award. 19-year-old Alex stole the show on the night with his amazing life story. He is a truly inspirational young man. Two and a half years ago he left the Congo aged 16 in alarming political circumstances. He didn’t speak English when he arrived, alone, at Heathrow. Having found accommodation in Hackney, his next focus was education. He approached Hackney Community College and attended a few short courses in IT and video techniques as well as the College’s ESOL (English for speakers of Other Languages) summer school. He then immersed himself in the sciences, enrolling on AS levels as well as A2 level maths. Alex is thrilled with his B, B, A in Biology, Chemistry and Physics – which he adds to an A in A level Maths achieved last year. He has been offered a place to study Biochemistry at Queen Mary, University of London. Alex gave a moving speech at the ceremony, outlining his journey and thanking the College for its continuing support. He has not heard from any of his family since he left the Congo, and spoke warmly of the support of his tutors and other friends within the College community. His ambition to qualify as a doctor hinges on the Home Office granting him leave to remain in the UK, as well as funds from the Student Loan Company to take his studies higher. As his Mp I am doing everything I can to help this remarkable young man.

Hackney Teacher in the Running

Joycelyn Bunbury has been the Headteacher at Colvestone Primary School here in Hackney since 2001. She realised that in Hackney there are serious problems with the underachievement of black boys and made it her mission to guarantee that all Colvestone pupils achieve high standards. Her refusal to accept failure and her outstanding leadership has transformed Colvestone Primary School for all the children there. Ms Bunbury was duly short-listed for the Teacher of the Year award but narrowly missed out.