Prep School
Black History Month has provided a wonderful opportunity for the girls in the Prep School to celebrate and learn about inspirational individuals from Black History and recognise the positive difference that one person can make. The girls have continued to hear stories about inspirational people from Black History, learning about the remarkable individuals who have challenged injustice, broken barriers and made a lasting difference to the world around them.
As part of our celebrations, the Year 6 girls have been exploring the lives and achievements of inspirational Black figures who have made a lasting difference to society and their communities. The girls have worked hard to produce some incredibly creative and thoughtful posters, choosing to research either someone who has made a difference in their local community or a famous and inspirational figure from Black History. Their work celebrates the achievements, contributions and legacies of a hugely diverse range of remarkable individuals from the worlds of politics, sport, literature and many more. Some of these posters are now proudly on display in the Prep Library and it has been a joy to see girls from all the year groups admiring them and hearing the conversations that they have inspired.
In Reception, the girls have explored Kente cloth weaving from Ghana. They watched a video and then made their own designs to weave a pattern in the Kente style.
They also took part in an activity linked to Alfred Cralle. Whilst working in a hotel, Alfred Cralle, an American businessman and inventor, became aware of servers struggling to scoop ice cream onto the cone as it was sticking to the spoons and required multiple utensils to get the ice cream onto the cone. From this, he was inspired to create the famous mechanical ice cream scoop! This 1897 idea is yet another invention that we still use now. For this activity, the Reception girls had two bowls, a selection of pom poms, a spoon and a scoop. They started by filling one bowl with pom poms and place the second bowl further away. Next, they transferred the pom poms from the first bowl to the second using the spoon and were timed.
Year 2 have been reading all about a little girl called Rocket in the story, ‘Look Up!’, who is fascinated by space and wants to become an astronaut. She takes her inspiration from Mae Jemison, a female, black astronaut and we spent time finding out more about her life.
In Year 5, the girls have watched some Newsround clips exploring Black History Month and African queens. This term, they are looking at newspaper writing and have read articles about the fascinating Josephine Baker. The girls were amazed to find out about her life, including her time as a spy, adopting 12 children and taking her pet cheetah for walks in Paris!
In English, Year 6 have also been studying Benjamin Zephaniah’s poem ‘The British (serves 60 million)’, exploring its powerful message about diversity, inclusion and what it means to live together in a multicultural society. The girls have been learning about Zephaniah himself and the important role he played in promoting equality and challenging prejudice through his writing and activism.
Throughout next week, the girls will continue to use lots of their Sutton High Superpowers as they develop their understanding of key figures from Black History.
Honouring Our Communities
