Parent & Alumni Support

ACEN’s primary approach is to increase the number of Black children within independent and grammar schooling, thus increasing the number of Black children in top universities and influential roles within the workplace, across industries, over a generation.
We also seek to enrich children of African/Caribbean heritage by sharing challenges, ideas, opportunities, and teaching, as well as creating an active network among like-minded alumni and parents.

AIMS

– To provide support and advice for African and Caribbean parents accessing and navigating the independent and grammar school systems
– To create and capitalise on networks as parents to build capacity within the Black community
– To create networks for our children to capitalise on now, and into the future
– To broaden our children’s education and include political, economic, social, and historical teaching
– To show our children that there are different characteristics relating to “Black” identities and to be confident in developing and embracing their own identities
– To provide anti-racism services for independent and grammar schools in relation to issues impacting on our children, as minorities, in these environments.

INITIATIVES

At present, we do this via pooling the resources and expertise of our collective parent body in our exclusive Slack community space, over social media, and in a large, proactive WhatsApp group, with a separate exam support group.
We also host networking, social, and information events, as well as a range of supplementary educational events, both in-person and online.
We will be launching a careers advice arm, and members will be asked to volunteer their time twice annually during events organised by us and provide work experience to the children in the network where possible.