Norfolk House commemorated Black History Month

Throughout October, Norfolk House commemorated Black History Month. The children found out about the issues faced by many black people from the injustices of the slave trade to the struggles faced by individuals such as award-winning author Malorie Blackman. Here is information about each year group’s work and some of the children’s thoughts about what they learnt.

Reception listened to some stories read by Floella Benjamin on CBBC. The children particularly enjoyed the pirate story, which inspired them to write a message in a bottle, describing themselves as pirates. 

For Black History Month, the children in Form 1 created a timeline of the events and achievements of Walter Tull's life. The children were able to reflect upon and explain how his achievements inspired them, as he succeeded in the face of prejudice.  

We learnt about an artist called Yinka. He went to art school and had a virus in his spine. We drew our own art and they had simple patterns like Yinka’s. He was told to only draw art from his heritage of Africa but he wanted to draw art inspired by the world.

Ava, Henry & Florence F2

The Form 3 children participated in a P4C lesson in which they discussed what representation is. They looked at the superheroes and characters in the children’s books and realised that the majority of them are white men. The children then discussed what can be done to change that. As a first step, the children studied and created posters of some interesting black women.

We learnt about the slave trade and how it has impacted the lives of many different people, it is important that we learn about the slave trade as it is a part of our history and we need to know we are all the same and we should not be treated differently because of our race or background.

Daniel F4

I learnt during Black History Month that some people fought against the slave trade, and escaped in order to inform the world how some people were being treated badly because of their skin colour. People like James Somerset, Phyllis Wheatley and Mary Prince wrote books about the slave trade and began the abolotion of slave trade movement.

Alex F4

This Black History Month, I learnt that it is unfair that black people have been treated differently in the past and we should all be treated the same. From the book we studied called Look Up, I learnt we shouldn't just stare at our phones, we have to be more aware of the world around us. From Hidden Figures, I have learnt that it shouldn't matter what our race and background is, we can still achieve great things in our lives.

Bailey F5

Black history month is an important and inspiring opportunity to research and learn about hidden figures. We have recently been discussing authors of black and Caribbean heritage e.g. Shauna Jackson and Malorie Blackman. I have really enjoyed this topic because it is like a “window” into other people's lives.

Dillan F6

In Music, Pre Prep and Junior Prep enjoyed exploring the work of iconic musicians such as Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane. We also discussed spirituals and listened to ‘Wade In The Water’, as well as listening to current musicians and recognising some of the inspiration behind popular genres. Children from all year groups were able to correctly recognise key characteristics of the musicians we studied and many were very impressed by Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s achievements and felt he was an excellent role model.

Click here for a wonderful selection of photos taken throughout the month.