ANSS Award Ceremony

On Sunday, 7th December 2014, the Association of Northamptonshire Supplementary Schools’ (ANSS) Award Ceremony took place at Northampton High School. Supplementary Schools are community based schools that endeavour to keep language and culture alive. There are 21 supplementary schools altogether - in Northampton we have the following schools: Arabic, Chinese, Latvian, Russian, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, 2 x Bengali, Greek, Polish and Ghanaian; in Wellingborough we have the following schools: Gujarati, WACA (African Caribbean) and Polish. In Kettering there is the Polish and our Corby centre at Woodnewton includes Polish, Serbian, Lithuanian and Latvian supplementary schools.

Awards were given out to those students and young people who excelled in maintaining their culture as well as their language. We recognised great enthusiasm and creativity. Older students who passed their GCSE, AS and A2 Level examination with flying colours were also celebrated.

During the Award Ceremony, we not only celebrated the achievements of children and young people but also the achievements of those supplementary schools who achieved the Bronze Awards within the National Quality Assurance framework. Alaa Abouzanad, the ANSS Chairman, congratulated the schools and said he was “delighted that so many schools have achieved this award” and that he

achieved this award" and that he was “absolutely certain that the other member schools will be achieving this award shortly.”

Certificates for Best Attendance were awarded to young people from Northampton by Cllr John Caswell, the Mayor of Northampton, who emphasised their parents’ commitment in ensuring that

their children could take part in Supplementary Schools. 

The Leader of Northampton Borough Council, Cllr David Mackintosh, presented the Most Creative Student awards and pointed out how much people in Northampton liked to celebrate diversity and that the arts played a major role in this. 

Cllr Joan Kirkbride, the Chair of Northamptonshire County Council, highlighted how important it was for young people to have a link to their country of origin. 

Cllr Anthony Dady, the Mayor of Corby, pointed out how much commitment and enthusiasm the students showed for maintaining their culture and language learning. 

The Mayor of Wellingborough, Cllr Jim Bass, who presented awards to young people from Wellingborough, highlighted how vital it was to understand the importance of attending a Supplementary School to give young people the best possible start in life. 

Certificates for the Most Improved Student were awarded by Cllr Duncan Bain, the Mayor of Kettering, who praised the young people’s academic achievements as well as their attitude, respect and enthusiasm for learning. 

Adam Abouzanad from the Youth Forum concluded that the Award Ceremony “has been about making certain people stand out for their hard work and effort and to make everybody aware that supplementary schools play a major role in people’s lives. As well as address the importance of maintaining culture and language across the younger generation.” 

Arta Brilta from the ANSS Youth Forum said “With the help of the supplementary school teachers and volunteers and the ANSS, we hope to see many more individuals receiving awards for trying their best to maintain their roots and to stay in contact with their country of origin.”