PROVING that postcode rivalries are just a state of mind, up to 700 Haringey, Hackney and Enfield school pupils united for an inter-school festival and sports day as part of an annual anti-violence initiative.

Pupils from Northumberland Park, John Loughborough, Park View Academy, Highgate Wood, St Thomas More, all in Haringey, Hackney Free and Parochial Secondary School and Oasis Academy, in Enfield, joined together in Markfield Park to showcase their talents and compete in a It’s a Knockout-style competition at the sixth annual Value Life.

The student-led project was set up in 2004 by Gladesmore Community School pupils with this year’s theme focusing on the growing number of turf wars emerging across London, leaving many young people too afraid to mix with, or visit, different boroughs.

Young people told the Haringey Independent that young people in south Tottenham did not venture towards Stamford Hill, in Hackney, and also parts of Bruce Grove and Northumberland Park were off-limits to young people from Edmonton.

Reverend Nims Obunge MBE, of the Peace Alliance, gave a rousing speech to the crowd and called on pupils to pause for a thirty second moment of silence to remember victims of gun and knife violence while holding a fist of solidarity in the air.

He said: “I will not allow young people to be complacent or bury their head in the sand to what is happening in our streets.

“No parent, or child, should have to live in fear that when they leave their front door, they may not come back alive because of where they choose to go. Today, we can celebrate our young people who are here in unity to send a message of peace.”

Last year, the Crowland Road school united Haringey schools in a mass march that brought traffic in Wood Green to a standstill as they called for an end to gun and knife warfare.

The Value Life message has proven so popular with young people that London mayor Boris Johnson’s youth ambassador James Cleverly attended the event to consider whether similar projects can be rolled out across the capital.

Mr Cleverly said: “The mayor deals with a lot of issues, but Boris campaigned on cutting down youth violence and that remains at the top of his agenda. I know that if he could succeed in doing that, he would be a very happy man.

“There is no reason why this couldn’t be rolled out across the capital. It is young people who should take a lead on this issue, not boring politicians, and that is why this works. I would like to say thank you to all the young people who took part today and are showing themselves to be positive role models.”

Gladesmore is still mourning the loss of former pupil Abdulkarim Boudiaf, 18, who was gunned down as he walked with friends near Lordship Lane, in Tottenham, just four months ago in what is alleged to be a case of mistaken identity.

Another ex-pupil Annaka Pinto, 17, was shot following a dance performance at the Swan Pub, in Philip Lane, in 2007.

Tony Hartney, headteacher, said: “As a headteacher, you spend five years fighting for resources to help educate your pupils and nurture their talents and, in an instant, you can see it all wiped away because of a single act of violence. Or, in Abdulkarim’s case, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“So here we are again, the whole Gladesmore family saying enough is enough.”