An independent coeducational school in London last month hosted a day of TEDx talks. King Alfred School saw students, parents and guests all speaking on the theme of transformations.
The talks included:
A painfully blunt talk on the spectrum
Alfie, a new pupil at the Golders Green school, spoke about dealing with the social and academic implications of Asperger syndrome on a day to day basis
Call me by my name
Tara talked about how the culture of using first names at school had transformed her educational experience
Too anxious for a TEDx talk
Henry spoke about how he’s taken steps to tackle his own anxiety, and encouraged others to do the same
Gap year volunteering – who gains more?
Charlotte-Lily, who worked in a Namibian school, spoke of the value of her visit, while questioning who benefitted most from the experience
Opening closed doors
Parent, Ian Hadden, has worked with the DfE to roll out a £200m funding package to increase the participation of disadvantaged school students in out-of-hours enrichment activities. He showed how this simple tool can help turn young people’s lives around
Talking afterwards, audience members and speakers spoke about the value of the day.
“I’m left feeling deeply impassioned and humbled to have been lead on a transformational journey by this group of inspiring and brave humans,” said one attendee, Kim.
“It’s inspirational to see the different backgrounds and different ages up on the stage, and interesting how one word, ‘Transformation’, covers so many different topics,” said a parent, Pilar. “I’m so proud of my son, one of the speakers; he’s usually very shy, but during his time at King Alfred School he hass bloomed. I would never have imagined him doing this before.”
Following his talk about anxiety, Henry said: “I hope others will take away my message to get out of their comfort zone, do things that scare them – like giving a TEDx talk – and it will help them gain more confidence.”
