Last week I was invited to an event at the Southbank Centre by a friend who works for the ODI. As it was a bit of a last minute thing I had to run around the school like a headless chicken to get approval from all the right people, to get accompanying staff and to make sure I wasn't taking students away from anything unmissable. I was so glad that everyone was supportive and organising the trip actually ended up being very easy! Hurrah! This was a once in a life time event and it was truly wonderful to be in a room full of so many passionate people, as well as many influential, notable people from a former prime minister to a Nobel Peace Prize Winner! Here's what I wrote for our newsletter.
"Grade 9 and 10 attended the Our Future, Our Rights event at the Southbank centre run by the Oversea Development Institute. This event had incredible speakers including Children's rights activist and Nobel Peach Prize winner Kailash Satarthi, former prime minister Gordon Brown, alongside Malala Yousafzai's school friends Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan, Camfed founder Ann Cotton, ODI Executive Director Kevin Watkins and was hosted by Ade Adepitan, the British TV presenter and Paralympian. We also heard stories from several children across the world and had a video message from Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General for the United Nations and Anthony Lake, Executive Director or Unicef.
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The event was on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and celebrated the great success of this, but also pointed out where it had fallen short. The event was aimed at getting people to sign a petition to help put pressure on governments to make changes to fulfil the plans of the Convention.
This was an incredible event, students were engaged and enthused by the speakers and it sparked some fantastic conversations. We would like everyone to sign the petition, #UpForSchool to ensure that children across the world have access to education. You can sign this petition here: http://www.aworldatschool.org/upforschool"
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