Category : Front Page News

Chickenshed Theatre Company – Back at Duke’s

The fantastic partnership with Chickenshed Theatre Company has continued at Duke’s this term. We are incredibly lucky to have been working with Chickenshed for 12 years now and every year they bring new and exciting projects into the academy. 

This year is no exception. On Friday 3rd November they kicked off their annual work with us by giving two of our year 7 drama classes the opportunity to watch a new piece of work that details a number of struggles young people face.

The performance was phenomenal and our students were engrossed from start to finish. It was also fantastic to see two ex Duke’s Students (Saffire & Alex from the cohort who left us in 2020) performing as part of the cast. Both students have now completed the level 3 Performing Arts course at Chickenshed and are now completing their degrees! It was magical to see them back performing at Duke’s again.

This week Mia in Year 11 had the opportunity to meet the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan at the Tottenham Stadium.

She has written about her experience here:

“I met the mayor this Tuesday during the school day. 

I have been playing football with the spurs foundation for almost 4 years. I have participated in school tournaments funded by them and tournaments for their own team, and many other events. I was also able to complete my level 1 sports leaders course with them during the holidays. Whilst waiting for the mayor I was fortunately accompanied by the chief executive of the spurs foundation Mark Leckie, he was really nice and appreciated what I had to say about the foundation.

As well as that I was able to talk to a man who worked with the premier league. We were talking about the development of women’s/girls football and factors that may improve the popularity as well as what is holding it back. For example girls who are not brought up around parents who don’t play football or disagree with girls football can prevent the child from joining football clubs. I was explaining  how I was lucky enough to grow up with my aunts,uncles and grandparents who played football as a child and have always been a big influence for me and not many girls are lucky enough to have that support. 

Once the mayor arrived we took pictures and I spoke to him about how far my journey has been working with the spurs coaches and how the foundation has not only built my football skills but also my self confidence and the opportunities I have had e.g Nike recycling event and stadium tour. As he was in such a rush we had a quick conversation and took a few photos. It was a great experience.”

On Monday 18th September two students from Duke’s Aldridge Academy were lucky enough to attend a reception at the House of Commons.

Toby in Year 10 and Alima in Year 8 both gave speeches at an evening event hosted by Hope in Haringey, a Tottenham based charity with strong links to Duke’s Aldridge Academy.

The event took place to celebrate one year of the charity being in operation in its current form – the organisation seeks to bring a voice to those living in Haringey. The event was hosted by MPs David Lammy and Catherine West.

Toby opened the evening by welcoming people to the event and gave a rousing speech detailing his own experiences and his desires for the future. Alima gave an inspiring speech explaining how her tutor group had won a £1000 prize for Hope in Haringey as part of the First Give charity initiative in the last academic year.

The students were accompanied by Ms Harley (Form Tutor – 8R), Ms Bailey (Achievement Cooridnintro for year 8) and Mr Bawden (Acting Assistant Principal for Personal Development).

The evening was a fantastic experience and one that these two lucky young people will not forget in a hurry.