Life in London's Olympic Borough

The 2012 Summer Olympics will be held in London. Specifically in east London, an area that the tourists rarely see. The 'East End' of London has come to be a by word for crime, urban decay, poverty, deprivation and neglect. These images and the promised regeneration the games would bring are perhaps one reason the Olympics were awarded to London.

So it would appear that The London Borough of Newham has something of an image problem not least in the eyes of its residents. Up until very recently it would have been a good PR team that could polish its image in any way but things are changing. The award of the 2012 games is just one element that could see the fortunes of Newham and east London in general rapidly changing for the better.

This project aims to document how I have been working with Apple computers in Newham primary schools (elementary). The projects that have evolved over the past 5 years have aimed to share and celebrate the vision of a brighter future through creation of DVDs, Keynote presentations, iMovies, Digital Storytelling and music.

My website, www.energyflash.org.uk and specifically the blog, may be useful.

Newham is the borough where the majority of the building works will be located. A borough where people end up rather than choose to live; a place with a youthful, ethnically diverse, generally poor and mobile population; a corner of London scoring high on a host of deprivation indices. A few high profile murders of young black men has increased fear on the streets and of teenage gang culture. I feel, for many Newham is seen as a dirty and dangerous place. Recently voted the 3rd worst place to live in the UK (and worst in London) Newham is currently a place to escape from rather than aspire too. It should be noted that I strongly feel that Newham is not London's worst neighbourhood and that a great deal of this project is about trying to get students to see through the negative press we sometimes get.

School pupils are asked at the beginning of the project to call out their impressions of Newham as a place to live in. Negative aspects dominate unsurprisingly but when we begin to dig we very quickly get as many positive aspects. Headline grabbing incidents have overshadowed the fact that Newham has 10 libraries, over 20 parks, an airport, international railway station and is within walking distance of some of London's greatest attractions.

A place a BBC programme described as like no other on earth due to its incredibly diverse range of cultures. It is common to have over 120 languages spoke at any 1 school in the borough. Massive immigration from Pakistan, India, Africa and Eastern Europe have created an extremely rich diversity of cultural heritage.Green Street is a famous road for Asian shopping and its famous Queen's Market draws shoppers from across London. Shops, faith, dress, language, lifestyle and celebrations all combine to create the melting pot rather than the tinder box.

Newham has its own Premiership soccer team, West Ham United. The team is steeped in history having been formed by iron workers and ship builders in the 19th Century.

More recently in the 1960s several "Hammers" players helped the national team win the World Cup. It is now famous throughout Europe as being a breeding ground for some of the best players in the world like Rio Ferdinand and Jermaine Defoe.

West Ham is in the blood of Newham and people now come from across Europe (via Newham's airport) to watch Premier League Football here.

I have lived and worked in Newham for 13 years. In that time I have experienced the lows and also the highs. My philosophy as a Geography teacher is that major cities have more of everything...good and bad. We all know the bad because the press wastes no time in telling us but I also want to pass on news about the good.

Europe's largest aquarium is being built ...in Newham.

Europe's largest shopping mall is being built ...in Newham.

The world's greatest sporting spectacle (2012 Olympics) is being built ...in Newham

London's largest park is being built ...in Newham

Europe's high speed Eurostar is coming ...to Newham

Set against all this is the project I undertake week in week out with the next generation of Newham citizens. Their task is to create digital stories using Apple products. The task is to communicate what it is to be a citizen in such a corner of London.