ABOUT US

INSPIRE TO ACHIEVE;

PERSEVERE TO SUCCEED

We set up the Hasan Ozcan Weekend School in conjunction with the UID (the Union International Democrats) along with Barking and Dagenham Council on January 2019.

We wanted to provide for the Turkish community within the area giving them an opportunity to learn their mother tongue and own culture.

It’s well known that a strong mother tongue foundation equips children with the skills they need to learn additional languages, allowing them to transfer their understanding of the structure of language to several new languages. When children develop their mother tongue, they are simultaneously fostering a whole host of other essential skills, such as critical thinking and literacy skills.

Languages and mother tongue also play a huge role in the development of personal, social and cultural identity. Children with a strong foundation in their first language often display a deeper understanding of themselves and their place within society, along with an increased sense of wellbeing and confidence. Naturally, this flows down into every aspects of their lives, including their academic achievements.

This allows them to explore their cultural heritage, build pride in their own culture and develop respect for all cultures within society. By learning your own language and culture it also provides assimilation and integration into the wider society.

This can improve communication skills, and contribute to promote integration in terms of better employment opportunities, social network and better mental health.

In order to set up the Weekend School we faced challenges that we needed to show the council that there was a demand within the area, therefore we collected signatures from the Turkish community and presented it to the council. We thank Jonathon Toy the operational director from Barking and Dagenham council for helping us with this process.

Once we had established that there was a need, the council provided us with the school, which we were extremely grateful for. Having the UID, the Union of International Democrats behind our plight helped us endlessly.

We had to subsequently take out insurance for the school, liaise with Gascoigne School in terms of what rooms / facilities we could use. We had to ensure that all staff, including voluntary workers had DBS and were registered…

We had issues with fees and buying equipment’s such as paper pens, storage, printer etc.

Setting up this school has had many obstacles and these do not end once the school is set up. …

As with everything we have continuous challenges we face on a day to day basis.

Liaising with everybody concerned is very important and dealing with issues as they arise is challenging.

It is important that we as migrants support each other and offer our children the best of both cultures… integrating them into British society so they can become a good citizens.

All staff at Hasan Ozcan Weekend School are committed to supporting children to gain success. Children are encouraged to develop positive attitudes to leaning and are given the opportunities to realise their full potential in all subjects. Their safety and emotional wellbeing is at the centre of everything we do at Hasan Ozcan Weekend School; we aim to develop our children’s resilience and confidence in taking on challenges within their learning.

The children are placed in mixed ability classes according to age. In all year groups your child will encounter a wide range of teaching experiences from individual one to one support, small group activities to whole class teaching.

Please continue to browse the website for further information about our unique and wonderful school.