Black History Month

For Black History Month, each class took a different aspect of Black History, or a significant person from the past. Here is a snippet from each class. 

Reception learnt the story of Handa's Surprise and the animals that were in the story. The children went on a pretend safari during snack time. They also made African necklaces and danced to traditional African music. Year 2 learnt about Mary Seacole’s life and about her contribution to the Crimean war. The children wrote biographies of the British-Jamaican nurse, as well as creating a timeline of her life. Year 5 enjoyed learning about Joseh Clough, who became the first Black bus driver in London. The children explored the amazing friendship between the Jamaican and Dr White, socio-economic differences in the UK at that time and the way the Afro-Caribbeans were perceived by society. The children discovered that Joseph was working in Shepard’s Bush Bus Garage.

In Year 3, the children researched Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill to create a fact file about her life. The children used their art skills to sketch her portrait. Year 1 learnt about Rosa Parks and her well-known 1950s bus boycott. The class were told to sit on their assigned seats, either boys or girls, and when there weren't enough seats for all of the boys, a girl was told to stand. It was explained that on this bus, boys were more important than girls. This led to a discussion about how no one person is more important than another. Not by their gender and certainly not by the colour of their skin. The children went on to draw portraits of Rosa Parks and build the bus she travelled on.

Year 4 focused on Una Marson and used her poetry to influence their poetic writing. The children had the opportunity to write their own poems, using ideas from her writing. In Year 6, the children learnt about Windrush with a focus on Floella Benjamin. The children looked at a variety of sources and considered the differences between first-hand and second-hand sources. The children began to understand the significance of Windrush as an event and how it impacted Britain.