Lambeth Academy brings a global perspective to education at International Youth Conference
12 October 2010
Ennelyn Schmidt-Roberts, Assistant Principal and International Coordinator at Lambeth Academy, describes the academy’s fourth annual International Youth Conference held on 6 October.
“Lambeth Academy welcomed students from Germany, Epsom College, Blythe Bridge High School and our fellow ULT academies North Oxfordshire Academy and Walthamstow Academy. We had more than 100 students from all over the UK and Germany coming together at our academy for the day.
“We invited the Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Dr Neeraj Patil, to open the conference and we were delighted to give him a warm welcome and listen to his excellent speech which highlighted the importance of global understanding and respect for each other.
“Our second guest speaker was Councillor Columba Blango, who delivered an inspiring presentation about his career. He spent the day with the students and helped them through their tasks.
“The students were paired in mixed school groups to get as many different students together as possible. They discussed thought-provoking set questions and then gathered opinions before summarising their findings.
“There was time for more socialising over curry at our restaurant. Seeing the buzz from the diverse group of students over lunch was yet another testament to the success of the conference in celebrating multiculturalism and bringing a global perspective to education.
“After lunch all the groups had to come to the front to present their findings and respond to questions from the plenary. It was impressive to listen to the quality of the students’ thought processes and ideas and it linked directly to what Principal Stephen Potter said at the start of the day. He described all the young people in the hall as ‘leaders of the future’.
“The feedback has been fantastic, and we’re already looking forward to next year’s conference. All participating schools asked to be invited again. We plan to include our international partner schools via video conference.”
