Oaklands Secondary pupils address education conference in Norway on ‘inclusion’

Headteacher Patrice Canavan was asked to address a major education conference in Norway with two of her sixthform pupils from Bethnal Green’s Oaklands Secondary about ‘pupil inclusion’.

Oaklands sixthformers Elliott Gordon and Nazia Islam on Norway visit. Picture: OAKLANDS - Credit: Oaklands School

They explained to audiences of up to 90 delegates about the school’s ‘every child matters’ agenda. The theme of the two-day conference in the Norwegan city of Bergen was about education inclusion.

“We were taken out to dinner on the second evening by Reidar, a specialist from Bergen University, for a traditional Norwegian food,” Ms Canavan said on her return to east London. “Reidar is highly thought of in Bergen and has been complimentary about our practices through his visits to Oaklands.”

Reidar visited Oaklands earlier this year and says he “fell in love” with the school and the inclusive way it’s run.

Sixthformers Elliott Gordon and Nazia Islam, both 16, seem to be the “starts of the show” when they addressed the conference. Both explained their own case studies. Ellliot’s topic was the ‘looked after’ child.

The invitations to address the conference followed a visit earlier this year by a Norwegian delegation of head teachers, psychologists, social workers and local authority officials to see how Tower Hamlets schools deal with the challenges of teaching in the inner city urban environment.

A Danish delegation is due to visit the school in Old Bethnal Green Road next term.