Black History Month at Mountfields Park
CCS Mountfields Park students have been celebrating Black History Month by studying wide-ranging topics to develop their understanding of the subject.
The month’s celebrations started with a whole school assembly, which looked at Black History Month’s origins, how it has grown and why it so important.
In PSHE lessons, students are studying the story of the Windrush Generation. They are seeing how this important part of British history has only recently started to be widely recognised, and why the narrative needs reclaiming.
In English, students have studied the poem Half-Caste, by Guyanese poet John Agard – before discussing the issues the piece raises. They are also going to be studying Benjamin Zephaniah’s No Problem – which references the racism he experienced when he was at school.
As a part of Black History Month’s legacy, students are being encouraged to become allies to protect other people from racism. To help equip them to do this, they are discussing a range of scenarios they may encounter and deciding on what appropriate action they could take to give effective support.
Black History Month at Seacole Park
Events to mark Black History Month at Seacole Park included an assembly and a school trip.
During Monday’s assembly, students were told about the context of the event – and why it is so important to celebrate it. This was followed, on Tuesday, by a trip to the William Wilberforce Museum in Hull. Once there, students learnt about Wilberforce’s work to abolish the slave trade.
Back at school, learners continued their studies by looking at a collection of animated films that used real-life experiences of young people of colour to explore racism, bullying and isolation. Once each story had been studied, it was followed up with discussion and reflection.
A lesson was also dedicated to the poem Checking Out Me History, in which Guyanese poet, John Agard, critiques how history is taught.
Primary learning provision at Seacole Park based their reading comprehension lessons around topics relevant to Black History Month. Racing driver Lewis Hamilton, civil rights activist Rosa Parks and nursing visionary Mary Seacole’s achievements were also studied as a part of this. Students then chose two of the three and produced a poster about them.
As a result of the work carried out at Seacole Park, learners are now better able to articulate the importance of Black History Month. They are also able to recognise how key changes in society have been impacted by inspirational people of black heritage.
