Month: November 2021

What is Books2Africa? Books2Africa is a UK registered charity that is improving the quality of education in Africa through the provision of books, computers and educational resources that enable individuals and communities to acquire knowledge and achieve their full potential in a globalized world. The charity collects and ships donated educational resources from individuals and organisations in the UK, reducing waste and increasing ‘readcycling’. 

We are thrilled to have made this new charity connection by donating hundreds of no-longer used textbooks. The donation brings us a great sense of gratitude and pride because not only does it mean we are helping impoverished and disadvantaged schools in Africa, we are also doing our bit for the environment by promoting recycling or “readcycling” as it’s known.

Supporting charities is a huge part of the CTK ethos, so we hope to continue this work in the coming months and make even more donations by sorting through our unused textbooks and even IT tech that we no longer use. You can read more about the great work that Books2Africa have been doing by visiting https://books2africa.org/

We were delighted to kick start our month of Open Days with the Aquinas Open Day taking place on Saturday 6^th November. We were joined by a vast amount of prospective students.

The student ambassadors worked tirelessly and professionally to chauffeur individual groups of prospective students around the building as they answered questions and showed our guests to the relevant subject areas. 

Staff also played a key role on the day, interacting with interested students and taking them through the subject course. Some subject ambassadors remained in their classrooms to support their teachers and give the prospective students a real feel of what it would be like to study A Levels by giving them an introduction to the classroom facilities as well as showcasing their fantastic work. 

Each hour-long tour ended with a talk with the site principal Ms Holly Power, as well as Executive Principal Shireen Razey. During these talks, both students and parents were given an in-depth presentation on the full range of subjects and opportunities that Aquinas has to offer. 

We were overwhelmed by the wealth of complementary and positive feedback relayed by our visitors. We would like to say thank you to all the students and staff who contributed to the success of the event and again, thank you to the delightful prospective students and parents who attended. 

We were delighted to help promote the recent launch of Black Joy with Penguin Random House UK and Speakers 4 Schools, last week. Penguin Talks is a programme of free, creative talks for young people, giving them the opportunity to both hear from, and directly question, a world-renowned thinker, writer or influential figure from our family of authors.

The aim of Penguin Talks is to help equip young people for the future by introducing a new generation of readers to new ideas and perspectives, and broadening their understanding of issues which speakers feel to be particularly prevalent for this generation.

We were joined by contributors, collaborators and editors; Timi S, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, Sofia Akel and Athian Akec. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and got a great insight into the creation and reason behind ‘Black Joy’ as well as a free copy of the book.

We caught up with Ana, who is currently studying A level Politics, Religious Studies and Sociology and wants to see change being made in her borough for young people through her passion, politics. We wanted to find out what inspired her to join the campaign, here’s what she had to say: 

“One of of the things that inspired me is, as a young person is, I’ve always been very involved in politics, I’ve always tried my best to get involved and make a difference. That’s the biggest thing that inspired me is I want to make a difference in Lewisham, I’d like to be a voice for young people.

Interviewer: If you were to be become Young Mayor of Lewisham, what would you hope to achieve?

Ana: I think that politics is important and that everyone should be involved in it, especially young people, as we are the future of the UK and of Lewisham. I’d like to get young people involved, making sure that theyre taught about politics so that as the next voters, they can have an informed vote.

I’m also really focusing on an eco-friendly borough, tackling child poverty as well as cyber-bullying. Those are my three main campaihn promises, but my most important campaign promise is to listen to young people and hear what they have to say about Lewisham.

Interviewer: What do you friends and family think of your campaign?

Ana: All my friends and family are extremely proud of me. Its been such a good experience. Whatever happens, happens but whatever the outcome I jus hope that I make everyone proud.

Interviewer: What do you hope to do after CTK and how do you studies help align your career goals?

Ana: After I leave CTK I hope to go to Oxford University to study Politics and hopefully one day you’ll see me in parliament! One of my career aspirations is to become a diplomat. That’s something I’m extremely interested in, I speak several different languages. Languages and Politics are 2 of my main passions.

My subjects compliment each other and set me up set me up well for my future as they’re all based around people and will get me to my dream career.