Earlier this year, Kingsford Community School was proud and privileged to welcome world class Formula One driver Sir Lewis Hamilton for a special visit to learn more about our school's vision and excellent practice in driving forward greater quality and inclusion in education. We were also delighted to welcome Dame Vivian Hunt, Chair of Teach First and a leading campaigner for equality, diversity and excellence in education.

Sir Lewis is the founder of Mission 44, a charity which stems from Sir Lewis Hamilton’s decades- long fight for social change – a fight that was further ignited by the events of 2020 and the inequalities brought into stark contrast by the effects of the pandemic. Having had first-hand experience of an education system that worked against him, and now as the only Black, working class person in his field, Lewis understands that addressing inequalities in education and employment are the necessary first steps towards building a fairer society.

Mission 44 and Teach First are working together to launch a campaign to see greater diversity in the teaching profession, with the aim of ensuring that pupils are represented and inspired across the curriculum. In particular, they hope to see talented individuals of all genders and ethnicities becoming teachers of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)-related subjects. You can find out more about their work together here. As shared in our previous newsletters, we know that worldwide there is a significant deficit of young women, particularly women of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, pursuing careers in STEM-related subjects. Mission 44 and Teach First believe that to address inequalities in the world of work, talented teachers of a range of ethnicities are needed to inspire and motivate the diverse pupils they teach. More about Mission 44 and its aims can can be found at https://www.mission44.org/.

There is a clear, strong alignment between the strategic aims of Teach First, Mission 44, Kingsford Community School and Education4Change (the not-for-profit our school supports) - all these organisations are passionately committed to ensuring that education supports every single pupil to excel and flourish in their chosen paths, no matter who they are or where they come from.

Sir Lewis and our esteemed visitors from Mission 44 and Teach First met with teachers and pupils to find out more about their experiences, and thoroughly enjoyed taking part in some science experiments together with our pupils. One experiment involved testing reaction times by attempting to catch a falling £10 note. It shouldn't be humanly possible to react in time to catch it, and yet Sir Lewis, with his lightning reflexes perfected on the international racing arena, was able to, and left our pupils in awe!

Sir Lewis was clearly impressed with all he saw, and even made an unexpected visit to some Mandarin lessons.

"I wish I'd gone to a school like this...it's been quite emotional for me...it's so different here," Sir Lewis Hamilton.

Our pupils were delighted and surprised to meet our special guests. "Meeting Sir Lewis Hamilton and Dame Vivian was the best day of my life. It is so good to know that such important people are using their influence to do something positive to make the world a better place for people like me," one pupil said.

Head Teacher Joan Deslandes OBE said "We were very proud to welcome Sir Lewis and Dame Vivian to Kingsford Community School. Their own aspiration and resilience are an important example for our own pupils, who are taught and supported to aspire, succeed and be excellent in all they do. Their work in advocating greater equality in education is something we passionately support, and we were delighted to celebrate equality and diversity in education in this special and memorable visit."