Play up, play the game: subteens at a Stokey school learn how to do the numbers that count

Loving Dalston CULTURE, Hackney, LATEST, NEWS
Abbott18a: MP Diane Abbott watches Yr 4 play at Northwold Primary School, Stoke Newington Hackney E5 8RN 020218 © david,altheer@gmail,com
Diane Abbott gives her rave review to Northwold Primary in Stoke Newington

WHEN DIANE ABBOTT heard that a school in Stoke Newington was devising a play to explain the world of finance too children, she just had to see it.

Unfortunately, an over-flowing diary meant that the Stoke Newington and Hackney North MP would have to miss the two-act drama about people applying for bank loans.

But in the best “Let’s do the show right here”  tradition Northwold Primary decided to stage a one-off performance for the MP.

So on an icy afternoon, Diane Abbott entered a large hall full of excited sub-teens to watch Year 4 present the play about financial literacy.

Northwold18: Yr 4 play at Northwold Primary School, Stoke Newington Hackney E5 8RN 020218 © david,altheer@gmail,com
Enraptured: children enjoy the production at the North London primary school

The pupils had been prompted by Create, an arts charity. Shelly-Ann Goulbourne, headteacher of the school, which broke from Hackney council control in 2015, told Loving Dalston that the Create people had thought Year 4 pupils would be too young to work on the project. The helpers were happy to be surprised.

Abbott told the school: “I came specially for this performance and I was very impressed.”

Shelly-Ann Malabver-Goulbourne headteacher Northwold Primary School, Stoke Newington Hackney E5 8RN © david,altheer@gmail,com
Headteacher: Shelly-Ann Goulbourne

David  Altheer 030218

* Northwold Primary School is in Northwold  Road, Stoke Newington E5 8RN. It broke away from Hackney council control in 2015 to be run by the Amaya Trust. Former students of the school include businessman-TV celebrity Lord Alan Sugar and musicians Marc Bolan and Helen Shapiro.

* Backstory: Company hands schools back to town hall;  Hackney tackles lost boys and girls; Hackney’s next talent generation; Battling against modernity

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