Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun: teaching activities

Introducing... Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun

Thanks to our partnership with Enterprise Mobility we are spreading the joy of reading to children across the UK with the mesmerising children’s book Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun (Simon & Schuster Children's UK), written by British-Nigerian author Tolá Okogwu. This has been made possible by the Enterprise Mobility's ROAD Forward programme which is working to help improve social and racial equity around the world.

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is a powerful story full of magical moments, brilliant characters, an action-packed plot and heartfelt themes of identity, family and friendship that will have children laughing out loud, whilst helping them explore themes such as identity, friendship, diversity, and family.

About Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun

Onyeka has a lot of hair – the kind that makes strangers stop in the street. When she makes the important discovery that she can control her hair with her mind, she’s whisked off to the Academy of the Sun, a school in Nigeria where Solari – children with superpowers – are trained. But Onyeka and her new friends at the Academy soon must put their powers to the test as they find themselves caught up in an epic battle...one that puts the future of all Solari at risk. Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is a thrilling superhero adventure perfect for Marvel and DC fans written by Tọlá Okogwu, a British-Nigerian author.

Teaching resources

We have created exclusive classroom activities, free for all teachers to download and use, that accompany Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tolá Okogwu.

These resources:

• Are suitable for use with children aged 9 to 11 - Upper KS2: Years 5 and 6 or P6 and P7 (Scotland).
• Help foster a love of reading.
• support the development of pupils' reading enjoyment and comprehension.
• Encourage exploration of emotions, skills of empathy and the importance of celebrating difference.
• Each of the five 30-minute session plans are supported by a film clip and offer fun response activities that encourage pupils to explore the core themes, events and characters in Chapter One to Three of Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun.

What's more, not every child needs a copy of the book to take part – the activities are all based around Chapter One to Three, which can be accessed on this page.

Resources comprise:

• A teachers' pack with five 30-minute reading for enjoyment activities, an overview of the book and curriculum links.
• A pupil activity pack.
• An extract from Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun comprising of Chapters One to Three.
• Five films exploring the themes of each activity, from TV presenters Sarah Lewis Obuba and Gyasi Sheppy.

Download the teachers' pack and activity pack from the list below.

Watch the films listed below

Activity one: All about Onyeka!

First, Tọlá Okogwu reads from her book, and describes her inspiration for writing it. Then presenters, Gyasi and Sarah, introduce the book's themes, and the first activity which explores strategies for coping with strong emotions.

Activity two: embracing our differences

In the next film, and activity two, Sarah and Gyasi explore themes of self-confidence, self-belief and how important it is to embrace our differences.

Activity three: hair emotions

Sarah and Gyasi explore what makes Onyeka unique, her feelings and other emotions towards her hair, alongside the moment her hair transformed.

Activity four: chapter reflections

Next, our presenters look at how Onyeka and Tope’s background is explored throughout the chapters, and introduce an activity to reflect on thoughts and feelings in the story so far.

Activity five: advice column

Sarah and Gyasi explore the characters of Onyeka and Cheyenne introduce activity five, to use knowledge of the story so far to offer advice to the characters.

In partnership with: