Sixth Form Taster Day

If you are joining our Sixth Form in September, or want to know more about us, come to our Sixth Form Taster Day on 10th July.

Make friends with future Year 12s; take part in fun activities; hear from exciting, inspirational speakers and experience lecture-style taster lessons in each subject to help you get a feel for the subject and how we do it at Clapton!

Booking is essential.

To secure your free ticket register now!

I grew up here, but Britain is doing all it can to stop me becoming a citizen

Clapton girl, Chrisann Jarrett, shares her opinion on immigration and asylum in The Guardian.

Applying to university turned into a humiliation because of my ‘status’. This why I set up Let Us Learn.

I am only 23, but I stand with the Windrush generation because I know what it’s like to suddenly feel unwelcome and unwanted in the country where you’ve lived most of your life, and which you thought was your home.

I was born in Jamaica but arrived in the UK aged eight to join my mum. I loved school, and in my final year was made head girl at Clapton Girls’ Academy. I was so excited when I won a place at LSE to study law in 2013.

It was only then that I realised that my immigration status meant I would not be able to take up my place. I contacted the charity Just for Kids Law with a few questions about the Ucas process, but it became clear that my situation was far more complicated than I first imagined.

I spent the next few weeks in complete shock. I discovered that, rather than having “unsettled” status in the country I call my home, I had no “lawful” status at all. I made numerous phone calls to the Home Office, and was initially told that my family had a valid application and that our documents would be with us in a few weeks.

But this didn’t turn out to be the case. I was in the Just for Kids Law offices, desperate to take up my place at university, when I made the final call. I remember listening to the woman on the other end of the phone tell me that, despite what I had previously been informed, I had no status nor an active application at all. I went numb.

I had to abandon my university dreams and focus on resolving my immigration status. It took a long time and it was not a pleasant experience for a teenager to navigate, even with the support I had. I raised funds to pay the Home Office fees and found pro bono legal support. Since 2013, there has been no legal aid for this type of immigration case, even for children. I got my limited leave to remain in early 2014, but soon learned that I still would not be eligible for student finance and would be treated as an international student. I saw my whole world crumbling around me again. I’d watched all my friends go off to university, leaving me behind, but had refused to let them know about my situation. I felt too ashamed.

This is why I founded Let Us Learn. I realised there would be many others like me in the same situation, and I wanted to highlight what was happening to a generation of smart, ambitious young people. I also wanted to bring young migrants like myself together, to share our stories with each other and show that we had nothing to be ashamed of, and that we are not alone in our struggles. Our campaign group includes aspiring lawyers, doctors, scientists and astronauts, as well as people who want a career without going to university.

We initially campaigned on access to university for young migrants, and helped to change the student finance rules so that many more young people like us can go to university. We also had success in lobbying universities with our #younggiftedandblocked campaign to establish scholarship schemes for those who are still not eligible for student loans, like the one that enabled me to take up my place at LSE. But more recently we have realised that, as important as education is to all of us, there is a much greater risk to our safety and wellbeing. The “hostile environment” is having devastating consequences on our friends and families.

For Let Us Learners, the issue that most urgently needs addressing is the extortionate cost of the Home Office applications we must regularly make in order to maintain our “lawful” status. Including the NHS surcharge, we will soon have to pay £2,033 to maintain our status. This is an increase of 238% from when I first applied as an 18-year-old, in 2014, and this does not even include any legal fees.

We have to do this every two and a half years for 10 years, at a total cost of over £10,000, or we become “illegal”. This is not affordable, this is not a fair system. We have members who simply cannot afford to maintain their status. We know parents who have had to choose between one child and another. Whose status will be maintained? Who will have to become “illegal”?

Mental health is a serious and constant concern among our members, who live in constant fear of losing their status. Because losing one’s status after fighting so hard to get it is to lose everything. The ability to work, study, rent, hold a bank account, contribute, feel safe.

The hostile environment and these fees are making it impossible for young migrants like us who have grown up in this country to lead normal lives. We want to work with the government to create a route to British citizenship that is just, simple and affordable so it allows us to contribute all that we want to give to this country

Chrisann Jarrett is co-founder of Let Us Learn, a project led by young migrants and based at the charity Just for Kids Law

READ ARTICLE IN FULL

With A-Level exams getting closer and closer, it also means that prom is not too far away, yay!

Alongside intense revision, the Year 13 prefects have been busy planning and setting out visions for prom, with the theme this year being ‘MASQUERADE’. The night will be the last time that we can come together as a year group and unwind all our stress, before we embark on all our different pathways after Year 13.

We have planned many amazing events for the night including a special musical arrangement, which will make sure we are all dancing, night long. And of course how could we ever forgot the amazing food we are ordering in, and as if that wasn’t enough, we will be having our own mini-bar serving cocktails and mocktails all throughout the night.

To ensure the night is one you cannot forget we will also have a photo booth supplied to us by ‘Momentous Photo Booth’ - Check them out here photo booth hire London. This means that the whole ‘squad’ can take their last group selfies.  

In addition to the performances by our own year group, we will also be holding an award ceremony with awards for ‘The Most Likely To…’ Very exciting!

So, all that is left to say is start your prom dress shopping, get your masquerade masks and see you on Friday 6th of July!

Preparing for Prom

With A-Level exams getting closer and closer, it also means that prom is not too far away, yay!

Alongside intense revision, the Year 13 prefects have been busy planning and setting out visions for prom, with the theme this year being ‘MASQUERADE’. The night will be the last time that we can come together as a year group and unwind all our stress, before we embark on all our different pathways after Year 13.

We have planned many amazing events for the night including a special musical arrangement, which will make sure we are all dancing, night long. And of course how could we ever forgot the amazing food we are ordering in, and as if that wasn’t enough, we will be having our own mini-bar serving cocktails and mocktails all throughout the night.

To ensure the night is one you cannot forget we will also have a photo booth supplied to us by ‘Momentous Photo Booth’ - Check them out here photo booth hire London. This means that the whole ‘squad’ can take their last group selfies.  

In addition to the performances by our own year group, we will also be holding an award ceremony with awards for ‘The Most Likely To…’ Very exciting!

So, all that is left to say is start your prom dress shopping, get your masquerade masks and see you on Friday 6th of July!

A Trip To The Past

Recently the English department treated us to a wonderful trip to the quaint little town of Stratford Upon Avon - famous for being the birthplace of the most famous playwright, William Shakespeare. The town was rich in cultural and historical heritage and it was definitely a fascinating visit. This is my personal account of how I found the day.

We arrived by coach and we first attended a talk about Shakespeare’s play, Othello, a tragedy in which the marriage of Othello as a black man to Desdemona who is a white Venetian women, is jeopardized by Iago the antagonist for various personal and social reasons. We discussed a variety of different factors which could have influenced Shakespeare when he was writing the play including the presence of Africans and Arabs in England during the Elizabethan era. Interestingly, Queen Elizabeth the first declared in a letter to the Lord Mayor of London at the time that there were “too many blackamoors” in England and that they must be deported. It is clear that racist attitudes as such had an influence on the development of the play. Something that was particularly bogus was that in the first performance of the play, Richard Burbage, a white actor, was cast to play the role of Othello using blackface makeup. Clearly, the traditions of the time made it impossible to have a black person portray Othello.  Overall the talk was definitely informative but it definitely evoked my curiosity about racist attitudes in Elizabethan England and  also  who portrayed the first ever black Othello?! A little research told me that it was Ira Aldridge in 1826 - a realistic and truly representative performance to say the least. French poet and novelist Théophile Gautier noted that Aldridge’s performance was “Othello himself, as Shakespeare has created him...quiet, reserved, classic and majestic.”

After the talk we were free to wonder the town and I found that everything was so quaint and pretty, it was definitely fascinating to see the Tudor style houses and vintage shops. My friends and I were particularly taken by a Tudor style Costa Coffee shop.  The pictures can be seen below:

Then, we visited Shakespeare’s birthplace and as we entered the little cottage, the tour guide who received us exclaimed, “Well, you guys look like you’re from somewhere exotic!” Naturally we corrected the person and informed them that we were from London. Not surprisingly some of us had our eyebrows raised to the max at such an ignorant assumption. After that somewhat embarrassing encounter, we explored the tiny house and found some interesting spectacles including a window with some very unique signatures such as “X was here” in the 17th century! We also visited Anne Hathaway’s cottage which definitely had some interesting features such as a very steep, rickety staircase that some of us were too terrified to climb down. I wonder how people climbed up and down those stairs everyday?! Pictures of the cottages can be seen below:

To conclude, it was a very fun and informative day, and visiting the birthplace of the greatest playwright was definitely an honour. Knowing that this little town was the source of inspiration for some of the most important plays in history made it a very humbling experience.

Sawdah Bhaimiya

Photo credits: Alex Virlan, Maryam Adia

A Level Spanish: A* Essay

Here is my A Level essay on Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar, where I discuss whether he should or should not be studied by future generations. Enjoy! -   Sarah Deberes, Y13

Explica por qué el director de cine estudiado debería o no debería ser estudiado por las generaciones futuras.

Pedro Almodóvar nació el 25 de septiembre de 1949 en Calzada de Calatrava y creció en una familia de valores tradicionales. Su padre era vendedor de vino y aceite y su madre la ama de casa. En la actualidad, Almodóvar es director, guionista y productor de cine español, sin duda uno de los cineastas españoles independientes con mayor proyección internacional. Hay varias razones por la cuales las futuras generaciones deberían de estudiar a este gran director de cine y mediante este ensayo trataré de explicar algunas de ellas y justificar mi pensamiento.  

En primer lugar, el arte de Pedro Almodóvar floreció en la cultura post-franquista de España a finales de los años setenta y ochenta. Sus películas celebran la era de la individualidad y la aceptación que infundieron las artes culturales españolas después del fin del régimen totalitario represivo de Franco. Además, las obras de Almodóvar son entendidas por algunos críticos como una revisión de la historia de España bajo el franquismo. Los personajes de las películas de Almodóvar, comúnmente mujeres, homosexuales, transexuales o bisexuales, no son relegados a la subcultura. En cambio, Almodóvar utiliza estos personajes para representar la revuelta posmoderna contra los límites represivos de la historia de España. Por lo cual estudiar a Pedro Almodóvar es aprender sobre la historia de España y las dificultades que a veces no mencionan los libros de historia como él ser homosexual. Además, las películas de Almodóvar nos permiten ver la historia de forma visual, lo cual nos ayuda a entender el pasado de España aún más. Si no aprendiéramos sobre dramaturgos o directores de cine tan importantes en nuestra sociedad, los jóvenes no sabrían tanto sobre él pasado y la historia española como lo hacen hoy en día. Por lo tanto, apoyo que sí se debería de seguir aprendiendo sobre Pedro Almodóvar en el futuro.  

En segundo lugar, cabe destacar que Almodóvar creció y se crió rodeado de mujeres. Cuando Pedro Almodóvar era pequeño, lo normal era que los niños estuvieran con las madres todo él día y que si la madre no podía cuidarlos en algún momento del día, que se quedaran con las vecinas. En una entrevista, Pedro hace mención a esto y comunica que como siempre estaba rodeado de mujeres, le gustaba observarlas y escuchar lo que decían. Por esta razón Almodóvar entiende bien a las mujeres y por eso le gusta que las mujeres sean las protagonistas de sus películas. Esto se enlaza con la cuestión que estoy tratando de explicar en el ensayo, porque Almodóvar al conocer tan bien a las mujeres ha hecho obras que se enfocan en las dificultades de las mujeres en la sociedad y lo que varias encaran día a día. En la película “Volver” de Almodóvar, este nos enseña como una madre y una hija han sido víctimas de maltrato y acoso por parte de sus padres. El acoso y el maltrato son asuntos muy presentes en nuestra sociedad que no han llegado a ser entendidos al 100% por parte de las autoridades. Sin embargo, Almodóvar ha hecho una película sobre esto, lo que conlleva que mucha gente lo vea y se de cuenta de lo que algunas personas hacen y lo que otras sufren por ello. A causa de esto, creo que se debería de seguir estudiando a Almodóvar en el futuro ya que nos presenta temas que a veces no se hablan, y de esta manera hace que aprendamos y que hagamos algo al respecto; lo que es muy positivo.

En conclusión, Pedro Almodóvar es un director de cine que nos ha enseñado muchas cosas a lo largo de su carrera profesional y que seguramente lo seguirá haciendo él tiempo que pueda. A causa de esto, opino que se debería de seguir estudiando a Pedro Almodóvar en las futuras generaciones.

Xmas Factor!!!!!!

The girls’ got skills!

A group of Year 12 students have been working with business mentors from financial services firm Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) to prepare for the Envision charity's Community-Apprentice competition which is loosely based on the TV series 'The Apprentice'. Students will develop three key skills; communication, creativity and team work, which are skills employers have identified as essential when employing young people. The winning team will be the one that makes the biggest contribution to their community.

So far, teams have chosen two issues which are most important to them and completed the first of the three competition challenges - the Film Challenge. Team Social Power has chosen to tackle body image, with a focus on challenging the negative role social media can have on young people’s body image. Team Cruelty and Violence (CAV) are exploring issues around vulnerability in Hackney.

Read more... Click the videos below to see how both teams rose to the challenge of creating a film of no more than two minutes which outlines why their issue matters in just one take!

Halloween costume competition!

World Class Students invited to Cambridge Uni!

Huge congrats to Ayo, Hafsa, Milly and Shaimae who have achieved the World Class Schools Quality Mark Student Ambassador accreditation!  They are off to visit Cambridge Uni to receive their awards in December.  

Have a great time! :-) 

Iceland 2017

For our A level geography course we went to Iceland in the October half term.  We were very privileged to be able to go and see these textbook examples right in front of us.  Everywhere we turned, we were in awe and wonder to have captivated such stunning land-forms.  From hardened lava to whole rainbows gleaming in front of huge waterfalls.  We didn’t manage to find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but we knew that Iceland was a pot of gold in itself!

Safiyyah, Musteyde, Maariyah, Zainab & Cynthia

Year 13 Geography

So much love for Y13 student Millie Turner! One talented lady.

Music video for "Eyes On You" performed by Millie Turner. Out Oct 18th! Stream/Buy "Eyes On You": awal.lnk.to/hKVtz

Iceland 2017

Why physics is cool. By Fenella and Kamara

Head Girl Safiyyah introduces herself and talks about all her fantastic fundraising work.

An Adventure Ride

We stared in awe at the giant spectacle before us

Bigger and scarier than the one we just exited, our breaths mingled

with excitement, with fear, with adrenaline. But then we were

swooping and swerving with a wish and a whoosh across

the hours and days that we escaped with a whoop. And when it

Curved downward, our hearts were beating violently

As the final reckoning dawned upon us, but we

Lurched towards our doom with a roar of determination, speeding

And accelerating, clenching our fists with fear, with excitement.

It then slowed and sailed calmly towards the exit as they cheered our bravery. Behind

Us the giant ride spelled out the letters of success but with glazed eyes we were

Already racing towards the next adventure ride.

by Sawdah Bhaimiya

Hello, It's Aminah! I am feeling the best I have ever felt! Being out of education is really helping! It isn't for everyone and I no longer feel overwhelmed with people, exams and results. I have just got back from Oxford! I landed a job working for a famous event rider. I got to ride, school and jump amazing horses (also improved my social skills but with people who also love horses) I learnt a lot and am going back after I finish at the racing school! I didn't think I would have got in but I did! I am a bit nervous but it can lead to amazing things and I will learn a lot! Thank you so much for all your support at Clapton! I am so lucky to have been involved with such a lovely and caring school.

Message from CGA Sixth Form graduate Aminah Rose