I was invited last Monday to speak at a small prize-giving ceremony for art students at the City Of London
Academy Islington (COLAi). The prizes
were for pupils who had won a place in a competition to produce a community
artwork to be hung on the ‘old’ Packington buildings to liven it up until final
demolition of the last phase takes place.
This was the first time that Hyde and the School have jointly delivered
a project, which has to be a good thing for the local area. Much more partnership working is promised, and I am particularly keen to see the building project used as a way to whet the appetite of pupils who may be interested in construction work
I got the job of handing out the prizes to
the pupils, and I have now lost the piece of paper with everyone’s name on, for
which I humbly apologise. The photo
shows the prize-winners, Rebecca their art teacher, in the middle at the front,
Bernice Ramchandani from Hyde 3rd from left, head teacher Clare
Verga 5th from the right, and yours truly lurking at the back.
The occasion was also an excellent
opportunity to congratulate Clare Verga on the quite remarkable improvement she
has made in the results at COLAi this year, almost doubling the number of 5 GCSEs
with English and Maths from 33% last year to 61% this year. This just goes to show what a huge difference
a good head can make to a school in a very short space of time.
The artwork was hung in the wrong place in
my view. You can barely see in the distance
in the photo. It needs to be rehung
where people can see it. Anyway, a good time was had by all, and the team made
short work of the sausage rolls afterwards.
