Our BCA Project
At Preston Park we are committed to raising the attainment of all pupils.
Our Culture Club now has resources online - check it out here!
Our BCA project is an initiative founded in 2019, focused on raising the attainment of our black heritage children. This project is running across the whole of Brent and we are delighted to have been selected as a showcase school demonstrating best practice in this area.
The Black Caribbean Project is a strategic framework that has been developed by Brent School Partnership. It is a two-year project that aims to close the achievement gap for Black Caribbean Heritage children at Preston Park and across the borough. At Preston Park we have felt the impact of this project and have committed to keeping this project going forward and have appointed our Black Caribbean Ambassador as our Ethnic Minority Achievement Lead.
The Project aims to sets out detailed actions to be taken by a range of stakeholders, to strengthen capacity and expertise in schools.
Preston Park is in the second year of the BCA initiative and throughout this time we have worked with all stakeholders to make the project a success for the children.
Successes so far:
- Preston Park has established a BCA governor as well as a BCA steering group.
- Established a strong parent partnership with some BC parents.
- Engaged the community by welcoming Nathaniel Tomlinson (a Black Caribbean author who lived and grew up in the borough) and Emma Jackson and Artist in Residence who engaged our BC boys in story writing.
- Celebrated ‘World (Afro) Hair Day’ and welcomed special guests ‘Curlture.’
- Have a collection of books with black characters or written by black authors. Some teachers are using these books as core texts for their English sessions, in their class library or for Destination Reader (Preston Park’s structured approach to teaching reading in KS2).
- Trained all staff on ‘Unconscious Bias.’
- Took our BC boys on a trip to ‘Sky Studios,’ where they presented a broadcast about the pros and cons of social networking,
- Celebrated 400 years since the emancipation of slavery.
- Maintained a weekly cultural club, using Young Black and Gifted as the core text.
Where our Black Caribbean children are from
Some of our successes so far
This is a sample of the work produced from our BCA Cultural Club.
In addition to this our children attend weekly mentoring sessions where they engage in different activities to raise self-esteem.
Below: our artist in residence working with our children to create self-portraits. The final published piece is hanging proudly in our school gallery.
We had a fantastic author visit from Nathanial Tomlinson and our curriculum is built around strong character identity for the children.
Left: Our children attending SKY studios where they took part in delivering their own broadcasts.
Below: we celebrated World afro hair day
