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Empower Day 5
On Wednesday, we held our fifth Empower Day of the year, with this term’s focus being safety. Once again, the students enjoyed a range of different sessions within this theme. SST had the good fortune and privilege of being visited by Mr Adefuye, who gave a fascinating and in-depth insight, as well as an alternative seminar, on slavery and its many forms. Mr Adefuye encouraged students to first recall their prior knowledge and understanding of slavery and then challenged them to critically consider various forms of slavery which still exist in our world today. The seminar drew on the importance of how we represent our past and how we should question the past and how it is taught, and above all it taught us to challenge preconceived ideas when we consider what slavery actually is. We look forward to developing our professional working relationship with Mr Adefuye in the future. Students were also given an introduction into how the Houses of Parliament work together to govern the United Kingdom. Students furthered their understanding on how the UK is a democracy and what it means for them as citizens. They found out how the House of Commons and House of Lords work and what their unique and collective roles are in holding the government to account, working for all citizens. Democracy thrives on debate, and ensuring Human Rights and freedoms are safeguarded at all times, so students were made aware of some of the long-term benefits that forming a debate can have, such as the way in which it can increase self-confidence, develop critical thinking skills and help you feel connected with the world. For their second of the two sessions on politics, students were taught how to prepare and deliver their own class debate, choosing from three issues:‘ The monarchy is out of date’, ‘Animal experimentation should be allowed’ and ‘School examinations should be scrapped’. Students were guided on how the Speaker of the House directs the MPs, so many different points of view are heard from a wide geographical representation. This way, the people of the UK can be assured that parliament is working for them. Students found out how both Houses work together to turn a bill into a law, one which furthers and protects our freedoms.
SST - where learning has no limits
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Our amazing Computer Science Prefects made their own, very professional PowerPoints on Online Safety, which they confidently delivered themselves to each class. Not only were their sessions very informative but they were interactive and very relevant to the dangers of online bullying. Very well done to the Computer Science Prefects: Harry 8T Lucas, 8L Harry 8C Lucas 8T Emillis 8L Alice 8C Edward 7L Ethan 7C Jack 7L Each year group also had a session on ‘County Lines’. Despite an ongoing rise in county line activity nationally, a police crackdown on drug supply networks into Kent has led to a dramatic reduction in the number of active county lines. Since 2020, the number of criminal enterprises has fallen from 82 to 42, causing a significant disruption to the county line supply chain. This is very reassuring for Maidstone, which, given its rail and road links to London, makes it a prime target for county lines activity. The students impressed us with their knowledge of the subject and were able to identify vulnerable groups from their previous PSHEE lessons. Kent police urge anyone who has information or is concerned about drug dealing in their area to report it via the website at https://www.kent.police.uk or to call 999.
