Black History Month

There has been lots of exploration, research, crafting and discussions to develop the learners understanding of Black History Month at Underley Garden.

Learners engaged brilliantly in an interactive presentation about Black History Month, led by Picture News. They really enjoyed this. They engaged with the presenters, explaining their experiences of being people of colour. They listened and answered the questions asked by signing back to the presenters. They really enjoyed this presentation and learnt a lot about diversity and inclusion!

We have all taken part in an assembly about Black History Month, looking at people of colour throughout history who have achieved great things and made significant changes to the world. Learners listened respectfully and asked lots of questions, wanting to know about more people.

In HT8, learners have been using the BBC teach website, every Monday morning to watch videos and discuss famous names in black history and their story. Some included Katherine Johnson, Wangari Maathai, Mary Seacole, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

In Assembly, learners accessed a presentation and discussionas to why we celebrate BHM, they took part in a quiz about influential black people throughout history and learnt about the importance of their work. We discussed different skin colours and traits that make us unique and special. 

Other learners looked at a range of black celebrities that they recognised, discussing with the class their qualities and talents. The young people agreed that black people are no different to other people and watched a video explaining at the melanin in people’s bodies determines skin, eye and hair colour.  The young people continued, learning about what awareness means and then thought about how we can raise awareness to promote equality.

Our young people have been busy exploring and creating items to signify their support of Black History including creating a hand wreath, using different, skin coloured paper and scissors independently. The young people understood that the hand wreath represents equality and standing together. The multiple skin colours all even and part of the same race, the human race. 

In Creative Arts we have been learning about music, Q4 have been researching different black musicians from around the world such as Rihanna, Michael Jackson, John Legend and Bob Marley. They have been using Charanga! to listen and sing along to some songs, discussing what we like about each song. They have also been creating fact files on their favourite black musicians, finding out about all their amazing accomplishments and life history. We listened and danced to soul music. We also looked at the Masai Mara dancing and made our own clothing accessories (necklaces). Finally, we wanted to experience foods from different cultures and made Jamaican Spicy Rice to try.

Classes have looked at past and current musicians and been listening to some of their music and linking into the genres. They then spent some time researching some of the musicians they chose and found some interesting facts about them. We also touched on this in English and watched some videos linking to black history and they all answered some questions linked to the videos. Learners worked in teams to look on BBC bitesize and research some of the black people that are celebrated for supporting black history month and found some interesting information of them. To complete the task, they then presented their finding to the class.

Continuing to use cross curricular links, In PSHE, Q4 have focussed on physical activity and how it benefits our bodies. They have been focusing on our topic of ‘live local’ and researched black British athletes such as Mo Farah and Nicola Adams. They have been looking into the different sports that black athletes have succeeded in in the Olympics and Paralympics and tried out some different sports for ourselves such as 100m race, tennis and basketball!

The learners have really embrace Black History Month and have really enjoyed the opportunity to explore this further.