This October the students at St Matthias have been celebrating black history month. Activities they have taken part in include:
• Y11 / Y10 student ambassadors have explained black history month to students during form time
• Caribbean food tasting in cooking lesson
• Shakespeare’s Othello in English
• Exploring inspirational people in PSHE
• Afro/Latin culture in Spanish
• Exploring the work of black artists in Art
• Recreating images of Marcus Rashford in Graphics
• Black people who have made an impact on the natural world in Geography
• A black history month workshop led by Genesis Sun with a focus on the history of carnival around the world
• A whole school writing competition
• A Caribbean menu available at lunch time!
Here are some visuals from across the month for you to enjoy:
Students comments across the month:
“I enjoyed it because it helped me to learn more about black culture. It got me thinking more about black history and what it is all about” Mekenzie
“It was a very good month, I learnt the context between things that I didn’t know about before, for example the Caribbean carnival” Kyra
“It was really inspiring, especially being a black young student” Naomi
“This month helped me look into the deeper meanings of black history and about the history of successful black people” Sheila
“A very inspirational and heart warming month” Zedain
“The Genesis Sun session taught me many things about black history and culture” Myles
“Try to remember that our history shouldn’t only be celebrated for a month, but remembered forever” Tiyahn
Black History Month Writing competition winners:
Well done to all of the students who got involved in the black history month writing competition! The winning entries were decided and the winners awarded gift vouchers for their efforts. Here are the names of the winners and some samples of the writing and thoughts they submitted:
Grace Bullman: If racism didn’t exist the world would be a better place because everyone would be treated the same and there would be equality for all. There would be less unjust death in the black community and there would be less conflict between communities that creates division. Without racism we would open up more discovery of the richness of other cultures. We would also be able to end the poisoning of our sport and online community through racism online…
Mohammed Khan: The most inspiring story I’ve learned from black history month is the story of Marcus Rashford. He suffered racism due to a missed penalty goal in the Euro’s 2020 match between England and Italy. He received racist abuse online…his face, that had been painted in a giant mural on a wall in his home city of Manchester, was graffitied with hate comments when he missed his penalty. Due to our beautiful citizens of Manchester and across England this hate was covered with love hearts and positive comments…
Joyce Anane: If I could ask Martin Luther King Jr anything, I would ask him what drove him to wanting to make a change. Back then people would either listen to him or he could face danger and even death for his beliefs and actions. You (Martin Luther King) said that there could be another option, that we should all have the right to live and follow our dreams..
Diljeet Kaur” The most inspiring story I have learned from black history month is the story of a brave lady whose name is Harriet Tubman. Harriet created the Underground Railroad – a network of safe houses from the south to the north of America that helped hundreds of enslaved people get to freedom…