Our Way 1
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TEXT ERIK BREDHE AND GROUP
COMMUNICATIONS PHOTO MALIN CROPPER AND MARKUS GÅRDER More students pass with LÄXHJÄLPEN It is Thursday evening at Smedshagsskolan, and Samaa Alammar moves from desk to desk, helping the 16 students who have come here for some extra schoolwork. She works for the foundation Läxhjälpen – an organisation that offers free homework help to children in compulsory education, who are at risk of not being able to qualify for higher education. “Läxhjälpen really makes a difference, and this is especially “I like technology and IT and want to work with that. But I’m not just going to invent apps. I’m going to be the new Bill Gates,” says Emir Bal. Hässelby Hem has been supporting the foundation Läxhjälpen for several years. Two students are ninth graders Navid Beshkoufeh and Emir Bal at Smedshagsskolan. noticeable in the students’ grades. I also think that getting help in one subject will make a student perform better in other subjects,” says Samaa, who studies economics and English at Stockholm University. One desk is shared by ninth graders Navid Beshkoufeh and Emir Bal. Navid is answering questions about the interwar period, and Emir is reading up on biology. They appreciate the help they get as much as getting access to somewhere quiet in which to study. ”I’m pretty good at natural sciences, but find social studies difficult. My goal is to get into upper secondary school, and major in science,” says Navid. The tutors have also become Statistics for students who have participated in Läxhjälpen: 83% move on to upper secondary education. role models. “They are students at colleges and universities. It’s exciting to ask them what they did to get there,” says Emir. become more confident. 88% 90% want to carry on studying. Young at the Opera relaunched On 15 September, a three-year school project in cooperation with Young at the Opera was inaugurated at Smedshagsskolan in Hässelby. 470 During the opening ceremony, music was performed by two members of The Royal Court Orchestra, Carl Jakobsson on tuba and Tora Thorslund on trumpet. Solo singing by Maja Frydén was accompanied by pianist Daniel Hormazabal and dancers Pontus Sundset and David Lagerqvist. 18 OUR WAY 3/2017 happy and excited students and teachers were in place to celebrate the renewed cooperation. The first-class inauguration ceremony included singing and speeches, and an introduction to the project content. This was followed by the traditional cutting of a silk ribbon, a fanfare and cake for everyone. In 2015, the Royal Swedish Opera and the school of Smedshagsskolan collaborated in a successful educational project, with support from Wallenius Lines. The new three-year project, from 2017 to 2019 will give Young at the Opera a chance to develop aesthetic learning processes combined with the school curriculum. The project aims to highlight the importance of culture in school work, thus strengthening children’s right to culture. Students from pre-school to ninth grade (ages six to 15) will be given the opportunity to both experience and be part of different types of cultural activities during the course of the project.