Queen Nzinga Saturday School Club
Launched October 2020
Queen Nzinga Saturday School Club launched in October 2020 in the middle of the current coronavirus pandemic. With an already widening attainment gap (which we now tend to refer to as education debt, as coined by pedagogical theorist and teacher educator Gloria Ladson-Billings), we wanted to make sure that the pandemic didn’t worsen our children’s chances of achieving their potential. We wanted to use the time, when learning seemed to slow down, to strive even more to give our students the best opportunities to reconnect with their history and culture, to embrace the values we believe are crucial to addressing the inequalities that exist in today’s society and to continue a tradition of academic excellence.
The Queen Nzinga Saturday School Club offers children from the ages of 7 to 13 a cultural enrichment space with a curriculum co-designed by parents, volunteers, qualified teachers and students in the community. It offers academic and cultural excellence through African-centred teaching.
So, what is African-centred teaching? We see it as including the following: legitimising African stores of knowledge; reinforcing community ties and idealising the concept of service to one’s family, community and world and communicating a worldview that idealises a positive, self-sufficient future for one’s people without denying the self-worth and right to self-determination of others.
If you are interested in joining the Queen Nzinga Saturday School Club as a parent, a volunteer or enrolling your child, please contact Louise on louise@parentsactionresource.org.uk We’d love to hear from you.