Cranford Review 2017

At
Easter, Keven Prunty, Executive
Headteacher, Seema Malhotra MP for
Cranford and Heston and myself were invited
to attend the 20th Anniversary Celebrations of
America’s Promise in New York. America’s
Promise was started by General Colin Powel
and his wife Alma. He enlisted the support of
all the living US Presidents to launch this major
initiative. The declaration signed by President
Jimmy Carter, President George Bush, Nancy
Reagan (Ronald was too ill to travel) and
President Bill Clinton stated:
“The collective work of the Alliance involves
keeping Five Promises to children and youth that
form the conditions they need to achieve adult
success.
We promise to young Americans that they
will grow up with the help and guidance of
caring adult relationships, healthy childhoods,
safe surroundings, effective education and
opportunities to serve others”.
Subsequent to its foundation the declaration has
been signed by President George W. Bush and
President Barack Obama.
The event was about re-committing that pledge
to young people and was a truly inspirational
America’s Promise
time. The programme was made up of a series of
panel interviews, performances and films with a
key note speech from President Clinton. One of
the highlights was the twenty minutes we spent
with General Colin Powel and Alma discussing
the similarities and differences between young
people in the US and UK. We were delighted
when in his closing speech he said that one
of his highlights was meeting the
delegation from the UK and that
he had passed on our details to Bill
Clinton.
The event looked at some of the
challenges that face young people
in society today but underpinning
everything said was the message of
hope. We all learned so much from
our time in New York that will inform
what we do at Cranford and beyond
in the future. Indeed, many of the
messages are already informing
what we are doing such as the HOPE
Movement but watch that space as
there is a lot more to come.
Alan Fraser (Assistant Headteacher -
Community)
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