WITH thought-provoking speeches from London bombings survivor Martine Wright and double amputee Spencer West, who courageously scaled Mount Kilimanjaro using just his arms, it’s no wonder that King’s Ely International students were left enthralled and inspired after attending Free The Children’s We Day this month.
As part of their Physical, Social and Health Education programme, the students travelled to Wembley Arena to participate in the event, which aims to develop a social conscience among young adults, empowering them to take action towards making the world a better place and helping to shift the world from ‘me’ to ‘we’.
Inspirational speakers from all over the world spoke passionately to the students about ways in which they can generate change, encouraging them to think about how even simple choices, such as, what they buy, what they wear and what media they engage with can impact society. Former US Vice President Al Gore also spoke at the event, as did Malala Yousafazi, who urged the young people to remember that “the most powerful weapon you have is your voice”.
The line-up also included high energy performances from Dizzee Rascal, Jennifer Hudson and Ellie Goulding, ensuring the students left feeling motivated and engaged.
Melanie Franklin, Teacher of English at King’s Ely International, said: “One of the main messages taken away from We Day was that of being locally active and globally aware. We Act, which is the long term programme behind We Day, encourages young people to make changes in their local community to enact larger scale global change. One way King’s Ely International students are doing this is to collect food for Ely Food Bank, and, after the exciting musical performances at We Day, the students are also in the process of putting together a concert to raise awareness of problems in the environment.”
