Celebrating Black History Month

During the month of October our curriculm has included a focus on celebrating the history and culture of people of African and Caribbean heritage. Pupils across the school have enjoyed a special weekly story time, at the Grove site these have been centred on three picture books whose stories and illustrations celebrate the richness of black heritage:

• Black is a Rainbow Colour by Angela Joy
• Look Up by Nathan Bryon
• Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o

At the Broadway, children have been listening to the real life stories of aspirational Black people: Christine Shingler, a children’s author; Vernon Samuels, who represented Britain in the Olympics in 1998 and whose father was invovled in fighting for equality during the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963 and Eunice Olumide who has pursued a highly succesfuly career in the fashion business. Their stories, and more like them, can be found on the excellent BBC Teach Black British Stories page.

In our collective worship each week we have been reflecting on the lives of Dame Jocelyn Barrow, Marcus Rashford and Lilian Bader to help us understand what it means to be an ‘aspirational community’. We have learned about their lives, their endurance and how they have exemplified the bible verse from Galatians Chapter 6, “Let us not become weary in doing good.”

The prayer below is just one small example of how the children have responded to all they have been learning.

Dear Father God,

Help us follow Lilian Bader’s great example. Thank you for her life and let us learn how to be inspirational when we grow up.

Amen