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Brecknock pupils with images of some of the young people who were killed by knives last year. |
Gone for good Kids’ play for today reflects tragedy of young lives lost to knife crime
MURDER, prison sentences and the pain of grief-stricken families are not the themes of the average school play.
But since the tragic death of Ben Kinsella near Brecknock Primary School in Holloway last summer, knife crime has been hard for pupils to ignore.
On Monday, about 20 children aged eight and nine staged a powerful play in Ben’s memory. The play, Gone for Good, won a standing ovation from parents.
Headteacher Sue Ladipo said: “It is clear that knife crime is something on their minds. They saw what happened to Ben and they have remembered it.
“It is something their older brothers and sisters have talked about and they know it is part of their lives.”
After the performance, she said: “These are the heroes of the future – they are the ones that will stand up against knife crime.”
Ms Ladipo applied for a grant for the play from the Cabinet Office’s Go-Givers Challenge, which helps pupils express themselves.
The script, written by pupils at the Cliff Villas school, showed how children carry knives because of peer pressure and to help “protect their area”.
In the play rival gangs clash after an Arsenal football match and a boy is killed.
At the end, pupils raised pictures of about 20 young people killed by knives in London last year.
Ms Lapido said: “After Ben died we had a few assemblies. We had a performance of Romeo and Juliet, which helped. I thought it was important to create analogies rather than lecture.
“I was a bit worried that it would be a bit difficult to handle. But these children are going to grow up in a complicated world. They have got to be able to see the cause and effect. They need to know what the consequences of their actions can be.” |
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