Are you a parent looking for a school in London that teaches with Yoruba?

My daughter is fast approaching compulsory UK school age and for the last few months, I have been researching the best type of schooling I want her to have. I considered state school, private school, flexi-schooling and even homeschooling. Without boring you with the details of my thought processes, I felt that what was currently on offer didn’t tally with what I desired for my daughter. That was what led me to start my own school Segilola Salami’s Preparatory School. I wanted a school that teaches with Yoruba, to help my daughter develop pride in her roots and culture. I wanted a school that had a very strong focus on developing business skills, financial management including investment and IT skills to name a few. Obviously, these subjects will be taught in a way that is adapted to my child’s age.

Whenever I look back at my life, I wish someone had taught me about investing, for instance. Maybe I would have made better financial decisions when I started working.

As someone who has been to university and has post-grad qualifications, I have a good understanding of the way the education system works. However, I have noticed that the education system has not adapted to the changes in our world as it is today and what we project it would be in the not too distant future.

As I am also a parent, my child’s present and future are very important to me. I try, to the best of my ability, to ensure that she has all the tools she needs to be able to face tomorrow, to the best of her ability.

I saw a video on Facebook (see below) which explains (from one point of view) why we need to adapt the way we teach our children so that they are relevant in the ever-changing workforce.

 

About Segilola Salami’s Preparatory School

Segilola Salami’s Preparatory School is not a traditional school and it is not OFSTED registered. The preparatory school is Organised Homeschooling where children are taught outside of a classroom using local facilities. Highly skilled professionals teach children specialist skills in a way that is adapted to their ages. Most importantly, the main language spoken (at least 50% of the time) is the Yoruba language.

Apart from what the children are taught, how they are taught is also important. There are no schools in London (as at the moment) that teaches with Yoruba as the main language.

The world is changing quite rapidly and it is ever so important to be multilingual. However, living in the UK doesn’t give children of Yoruba origins a lot of opportunities outside of their friends and family to use their mother tongue. Even worse, knowledge of our heritage is being lost and that’s why this school has been started.

There’s a saying “if you don’t know where you are coming from, how do you know where you are going to?”

 

Plan for the school

Classes will be divided by the age of the children: 3 – 5 years old, 6 – 8 years old, 9 – 11 years old (children can leave at this point to attend a regular secondary school), 12 – 14 years old (at the end of this class, children can go to a University Technical College).

Personally, I would love for my daughter to go to a Technical College as they offer so much more than a regular secondary school. I feel that a technical college would arm my daughter with the skills she needs to thrive. But plans are fluid, who knows what would happen in 10 years time?

I hope for classes to start either September 2018 or January 2019.

The draft curriculum for the IT class has been written by an IT specialist in London called Femi Owoyale. Femi is a dad living in south London with his wife and two daughters. His eldest daughter is also 3 years old. He’s really excited to get on board because he shares my vision re the type of education he wants his daughters to have.

As two professionals who have been to university ourselves, we know first hand the limitations of the current education system, most especially how it prepares children to be employees and not employers. As a mom, I do not desire for my daughter to spend her entire life working for someone else. I want to empower her to also consider being a ‘job creator’.

Whilst the school will mostly follow its own agenda, there will be a class teacher that teaches the children following the national curriculum for some core subjects. There will be no homework or academic tests per se but presentations where the children show what they can do.

In Femi’s class, for instance, he would be working with the children so they gain a range of skills that they can actually do. For instance, they would develop games, write programs and codes. The more you do, the better you get!

Like I said before, this is just a draft plan. I will be updating this page as time progresses.

If this Organised Homeschool sounds like a school you would like your child(ren) to go to, please drop me an email by clicking here to register your interest. Class sizes will be very small too. The plan is to have an adult to child ratio of about 1:5 to 1:3. Parents will be very involved in shaping the education that their children will receive.

To summarise, Segilola Salami’s Preparatory School is an Organised Homeschool in south London. There are no classrooms, children are taught using local resources and venues. At least 50% of the time, each teacher teaches with Yoruba. If you want your child to become fluent in Yoruba with a strong emphasis in Yoruba culture, then register your interest now.

In the meantime, enjoy watching my Yoruba Kids TV channel

Yoruba Kids TV

Please leave a comment below. I would love to know what you think about the future workforce and how education, as it is, prepares (or not) children for the future.