We had a fantastic time with our annual celebrations of Black History Month. This year’s theme, Reclaiming Narratives, marked a significant shift towards recognising and correcting the narratives of Black history and culture. During the month we learned about the incredible contributions of Black people throughout history, both in the UK and around the world, from Joseph Emidy who led the Truro Philharmonic Orchestra in 19th Century Cornwall to Dr Thomas Mensah who made advances in fibre optics and Nanotechnology.
The month began with student-led assemblies including presentations, poetry, spoken word and a West African & Caribbean dance medley.
After this, we had incredibly popular Friday Food workshops where students made Ghanaian doughnuts, Jollof rice, curry chicken and chickpea curry and Caribbean Johnny cakes. Thanks so much to the friends and family members who came in to lead some of these workshops, including the ‘Shirley Jollof Paste’ team and‘Jamaica Valley’.
Our student leadership team hosted guest speakers during our weekly sixth form lecture programme. We heard from a fantastic guest panel about how they achieved success in their respective industries. Panelists included Wisdom Onwubiko – Law graduate and business owner, Emma Brew-Riverson – Senior litigation lawyer, Thandeka Moya – content producer, Francis Nwofor – Azure core infrastructure specialist at Microsoft & Chiamaka Uwakaneme – Imperial college medical student.
Finally, to conclude our BHM celebrations on the last Friday of the month, we held a subject exhibition during lunchtime. Students took a journey through time across a range of subjects to explore contributions of Black pioneers in many areas including Drama, Geography, Classical Civilisation, Literature, Maths, Languages and Music.
Black History Month Celebrations