News and Events
Parkside in the New Nation newspaper
Revealed: The Black school you’d want your kids to attend, 11.6.07
http://www.newnation.co.uk/
The head of a London-based primary school is urging African Caribbean parents to consider an alternative to the state education system.
Parkside Preparatory School, based in north London, is an independent day school, registered with the Department of Education, and now specialises in the education of African Caribbean children aged between three and 11 years old.
School owner Dayo Abifarin took over Parkside Prep with four fellow parents in 2002, when then-headmistress Mrs Rachel Horan-Botfield retired and planned to close the school down.
Dayo’s son had been attending Parkside since 2000, when it was white owned. But when the school was threatened with closure two years later, he says parents had to take action. ‘Before I had children I made a conscious decision that they would never go to a state school because I was very aware of the little they had to offer,’ Dayo explained.
‘When we heard Parkside school was closing down in February 2002, five of us [black parents] decided to form a company [Parkside Preparatory School Ltd] and take on the administrative role of the school. It was our only option to keep it open,’ he adds. ‘It was a sacrifice, and each of us contributed £2,500 of our own funds to keep it going.’
Dayo continues: ‘We learnt how to deal with the DfES [Department of Education and Skills], Ofsted [Office for Standards in Education], the local council, training for the teachers and more. There wasn’t a template telling us what to do – but we got better at it. ‘And having dealt with education authorities, it became more obvious to me why black children have been doing badly in state schools. Their whole idea of educating children is about bureaucracy; the emphasis seems to be about nicely written policies and ticking boxes, and not on attending to children’s needs.’
Two years after the parents’ takeover, one of Dayo’s five colleagues passed away, and the rest moved on to ‘other things’, Dayo says. ‘For the past two years, I’ve effectively been solely responsible for the school. I’ve always been passionate about black children’s education,’ he adds.
In September 2004, Dayo recruited current headmaster Mr Decent Henry, a teacher with a 20-year track record and who is highly respected in his field and local area. ‘The school has always had a good reputation, but particularly since Mr Henry joined us the standards have been very high,’ Dayo admits.
Henry previously taught English language and literature at Northumberland Park secondary school and the predominantly black John Loughborough Seventh-Day Adventist School, both based in north London. Henry’s teaching methods are so highly acclaimed that when he left Northumberland Park to teach at John Loughborough, more than 20 students followed him. The incident was documented by the BBC at the time.
Henry told New Nation he was immediately impressed by Parkside Prep when he was offered his headmaster post. ‘When I saw the children it appealed to me straight away; highly orderly, good uniform and a way of teaching that is sort of embryonic to going in to secondary school,’ he said.
‘I’ve taught a lot of black children in my time. [But] with these primary school children being younger, it gives you the opportunity to mould them with the things that you would teach them in a secondary state school – but it’s information they should have known already.’
Parkside, which can accommodate up to 80 pupils, aims to develop each child to their full potential in all subjects, but especially in reading, spoken and written English, mathematics and information technology, Henry says. Various events are also held throughout the year. These include a concert, sports day, annual achievement awards and school trips.
As an independent school, Parkside has no legal responsibility to follow the National Curriculum or to take part in SATs (Standard Assessment Tasks), however it does use the curriculum as a basis. ‘We do cover the curriculum, but in terms of grammar and structure we deal with more than is expected,’ Henry said. ‘We teach literature and French, as well as speech and drama
so the children can express themselves confidently. It’s in line with the curriculum and more.’ The St Vincent-born educator says Parkside dispels the myth that black youths in the UK are underachievers. ‘Every time I hear on the radio “black children do not achieve”, I wonder, “who says that”? Because when I taught at Nothumberland Park, most of the children who passed were black children.’
Dayo agrees: ‘There are parents who bring their children here because they’re dissatisfied with the state schools. Then the children – particularly black boys – who have been told they have so-called behavioural problems, come here and do very well. They are very calm and their inner selves really shine through. You realise it’s a case of our children not being given a chance – and that is what they get at Parkside Prep.’
Drawing on his long-time experience working in government schools, Henry says it’s not just the bureaucracy that’s to blame for black children’s lack of encouragement. ‘There is a problem with the state but there’s also an issue with teachers as well. I’ve had a child in my class getting a grade A or B for English, but yet pass no other subject.
‘What I found is that their other teachers didn’t teach my way – maybe they felt it was too threatening or harsh. But black parents don’t see that, they will tell you that is what they’re accustomed to.’
At Parkside, Henry says there is an apparent difference in the performance of pupils, even at a younger age. ‘With the Year Two [seven-year-olds] results for example, the children are ranked in Two A, Two B and Two C. Two C is below average, Two B is what they should get as seven-year-olds, and Two A is above average. However, most of our Year Two kids are getting a grade Three. ‘We achieve a high standard of literacy and numeracy, which is required for successful learning across a broad curriculum,’ Henry said.
Dayo adds: ‘It used to be the case that lots of parents took their children out of Parkside and into a state school once they reached the age of eight or nine. But because we’ve now proved how high the standards are, parents are beginning to leave their kids here right until they’re ready for secondary school.
‘Parents will come and they say things like, “do you know my son was doing secondary school work for their cousin the other day”. That tells them their child is at a much higher level than is expected.
He continues: ‘We must never fall for that myth that black children underachieve. They are the same black children you find in the Caribbean and Africa, so what is it that suddenly makes our children come here and not achieve? As long as the children are taught properly and correctly you will get the best out of them.’
Parkside’s classes are made up of no more than 15 children, both male and female. Henry says the limited numbers are a huge benefit because teachers can get to know the children quickly. ‘In state schools you find behavioural problems take up half the lesson. The emphasis is on teaching here.
‘That’s why recruiting teachers is a vital task. You have to hand pick people who are on the same line for the achievement for children.’ Traditional African Caribbean values are also vital, he states. ‘I’m from St Vincent and Dayo is from Nigeria – and we very much bring our traditions to the forefront when it comes to discipline.’
Dayo gives an example: ‘In a state school, a teacher is likely to tell the child to “please, go and sit down”. Where as we would just say to the children “go and sit down”. It’s important for them to be spoken to in school in the same way they are spoken to at home – we have that consistency here.
Henry adds: ‘I think the relationship between the teachers and the children is particularly good here, because there is no fear.’
Dayo says while Parkside is now viewed as a ‘black’ primary school, that was not his initial plan. ‘When we took over there was a mixture of children, but gradually the white parents took their children out of the school and we haven’t had any white parents some back to us since. Quite a few [white] teachers also resigned. My gut feeling is it’s because we [black parents] took over.’
Henry adds: ‘People might think we are a black school but we are not a black school by choice, we didn’t set out like that.’ But now, African Caribbean education is at the top of the agenda. ‘I plan to start black history classes for one or two days a week from September,’ Dayo says.
‘I’m currently looking for any teachers who know how to pitch black history to three-to 11-year-olds. Those who are interested should get in touch.’ And Henry appeals to black parents to consider Parkside for their kids: ‘This is the ideal place for your child because the emphasis is on teaching and learning in a safe and secure environment. And it will reflect what is really needed in society. We want to put an end to the myth that black boys in particular underachieve.’
Dayo concludes: ‘I’d love to have a situation where there were lots of schools like this around so we can get together to decide and agree among ourselves how we want to educate our children.’
