CAABU :: About us and the work we do :: Testimonials about CAABU

Schools

The following are some responses from schools that CAABU has visited. Scroll down for feedback from students.

Comments from teachers:

"Thank you again so much for your excellent work. I thought you did an outstandingly good job. I have sat in on quite a few workshops now, and this one really stands out. You managed to engage people right from the start, and by the end I think you had had responses from almost everyone. That was quite an achievement. Your workshop session was extremely positively received by the pupils and the teachers. It would be wonderful to see you again next year. Might you be able to join us again, please?" Comberton Village College

"[The students] are still talking about the talk and have mentioned many things I thought they did not hear. They especially keep bringing up the point that racism against Arabs is just as wrong as any other form of racism." Clough Hall Technology School

"I really do appreciate your extremely knowledgeable and interesting approach to the subject and your words certainly provided plenty of food for thought. The staff were very complimentary and appreciated the wide variety of issues covered. I'm always amazed how little students know about the origins of the Conflict and in the present climate your words have even more significance. I hope that we may be able to tempt you back here again in the future." Canford School

"My colleagues and I were very impressed at the skilful way you engaged the students from the outset, encouraging them to think, voice their opinions and ask searching questions." Bedales School

"The feedback I've had from the boys has been excellent – they really found your talk engaging and interesting, and simply by the amount of questions at the end I could tell how well it went! [...] I will be in contact next year again, as I feel that you deliver a very important message that I would like future years at the school to hear." Royal Grammar School

"They enjoyed the talk very much – they were impressed that a woman was giving a talk on Islamophobia (they didn’t expect this!)" The Skinners’ School

"Thorough, measured and stimulating... " Maiden Erlegh School

"I am writing to thank you for your fascinating lecture, and for your patience when bombarded with questions. The presentation has provoked a great deal of discussion and positive response from the pupils, who have undoubtedly been confronted with some uncomfortable truths. I hope that it may not be too long before we are able to call upon your services again. It's so good to make young people think!" Bristol Grammar School

"The pupils that I have spoken to found the talk really stimulating. I got the impression that some had not been asked to confront their own prejudices quite so directly before. Obviously a very valuable experience. " Dauntsey’s School

"Many thanks for a fantastic talk." Bryanston school

"A very impressive session which engaged the students and was thought-provoking. Thank you!"Sir William Perkin’s School

"Informative and entertaining" The Coopers' Company and Coborn School

"Students and staff...particularly appreciated how eloquently you spoke and the students’ responses showed that they had engaged with the arguments well. Thank you for the open-ended style of your approach which gave them an opportunity to express their views and ask questions which further enhanced their understanding of this very complex political issue." School wants to remain anon

"As always you prompted some lively debate in the following lesson. Several of the girls also commented on the news reports the next day covering the UN’s condemnation of Israel’s threat to cut off power supplies to Gaza" St Swithun’s School

“The speaker was first rate. Students were fully engaged and were discussing the issues raised in further lessons” The Friary School

Comments from students:

“Why aren’t we taught about this in our other lessons?”

“No comment. It was cool.”

“Thank you.”

"This was a really informative talk presented in a way that was interesting, friendly and easy to understand. I feel this was inspirational and certainly feel motivated to learn more about the situation and to support the Palestinian cause. Excellent."

"I didn’t know about any of that stuff before."

"I feel I've learnt a lot from you today, which isn't typical of the talks we have at school(!)"

"It was really good, brilliant. Thank you."

"Having you come to speak at school had amazing consequences for me, so thank you!"

"Best this year!"

"Fascinating and informative."

"As well as learning about the conflict, we also learnt about the huge importance of basic human rights for anyone involved in situations like these and that a problem that we might consider to be fairly small can actually makes someone’s life a struggle to survive."

"The workshop was a real eye-opener and has been so helpful to me in understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict and the media bias on the situation. It is amazing to see how relevant the workshop was when considering the current relationship between the Arab and Israeli nations...A lot of my friends who aren't aware of the situation are coming to me asking to be updated about the situation and how it occured, I have even managed to inform my parents allowing them to understand the real incidents and how their views have been manipulated by the press and by bias."

"We would like another talk on other issues including torture, general way of life, education, projects (both Palestinian and international)" [ie they were saying they wanted to know even more – principally about occupation. Things like torture and education were touched on briefly in the presentation and clearly the students were interested]

“It made me think more about the world as at the moment very focused on my future”

“‘It was very useful to hear the background, as this is often taken as assumed knowledge by the media. Thank you.”

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