To celebrate Black History Month, everybody here at Sacriston Academy took part in a range of activities to learn all about remarkable black figures throughout history.
In Nursery, the children studied the story of Floella Benjamin and her journey from Trinidad to England. They were sad to find out that when she first came to England other children wouldn't play with her because she was black. However, as time went on, she was accepted and made lots of friends. When Floella got older she became a television presenter for children's programmes! Nursery really enjoyed watching one of Floella’s episodes of Play School.
Over in Reception, the class learned all about Mary Seacole, who cared for sick soldiers above herself. She faced prejudice but this didn't stop her from using her own money to help sick soldiers during the Crimean War.
Year 1 lived up to their Sacriston star name by looking at famous NASA astronaut, Victor Glover. Victor was a pilot on the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station. Out of 300 astronauts, he was the first black astronaut to go into space! Year 1 loved learning all about him and what he did to get to space - he is such an inspiration!
Our Year 2 children worked together to write a letter to Rosa Parks. Here’s what they had to say…
“Dear Rosa Parks,
How was your day? Thank you for standing up for Black Rights. That was the right thing to do. I bet you were such a good person. We love that you championed people who needed it. Thank you for being such a positive person for the black community. You are also a great role model to the white people of your time; I’m glad they learned how to treat people fairly. We love that you fought for equality for black people. If you hadn’t boycotted the bus, people would not have been inspired by you. If we didn’t have you we would still be living the way you did and people would still have to fight for their rights. You were a good person. You could have been a Sacriston Star just like us.
Yours sincerely,
Year 2”
Over in Year 3, our children learned all about Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States. The children discovered that he was in charge of America when they were born! This shocked many children as they thought it would have happened a long time ago. They discovered interesting facts about his life, discussing how inspirational and resilient he is as the first non-white person to break through barriers to become the American president.
Year 5 went back to the tudor times to learn about John Blanke who was a royal trumpeter in the courts of Henry VIII and remains the only black Tudor that we have a known image of. The children learned that John was very talented and very daring, asking Henry VIII for a pay rise and, to our surprise, Henry said yes and doubled his wage!
Our eldest children in Year 6 looked at Jesse Owens. Jesse was an American track and field athlete who amazed the world by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. The Olympic Games were held in Berlin at a time when Hitler and Nazi propaganda were promoting the idea that Germans were superior and people of other races were inferior. It was also a time when black people did not have the same rights as white people in his home country of America. Jesse Owens' marvellous achievements rallied crowds across the globe!
All of our Sacriston stars loved learning about some of the people who have shaped the past…