Black History Month is once again Elmhurst ’s focus for October. This is a special time where we promote knowledge of black history, culture and heritage.
Our value this month is 'Proud to Be'. Alongside our core British Values, we encourage the children to reflect on previous work, and explore ideas that promote respect and understanding of one another. We will also consider important historical events as we learn about Black History whilst taking the opportunity to celebrate the lives of positive black role models and the positive contribution they have made and continue to make. As always, this will be undertaken in an age appropriate and considerate way.
On Friday the 8th October ,Year 5 and 6 took part in an assembly were we discussed the importance and purpuse of “Black History Month”.
To help them extend their learning Year 5 boys went to The Museum of London Docklands on Tuesday 12th October. The museum tells the fascinating story of the history of East London from Roman times to the construction of Canary Wharf. The boys are studying slavery at school and the museum reveals how London was associated with the slave trade.
Here are some of the Year 5 boys' comments:
“On Tuesday 12th October Year 5 went on a trip to the London Docklands Museum as we are learning about Black History. Ever since I found out about this trip, my heart had been racing in excitement and I was always thinking about it. On the morning of the trip, excitement filled our classroom as we were arranged into groups of four and we were raring to set off a long time before we actually did. We piled into the minibus and left school at around nine o’clock but there was a long journey ahead of us. The chitter chatter of the class filled the minibus and helped make the journey go faster.
Finally, we arrived at the museum and I gasped in awe as soon as I saw how beautiful the museum was. I knew I was going to enjoy it before I even went inside. After a quick snack break, we went into the museum where we were greeted by a kind man called Ben. He was in charge of the super workshop we were going to attend. In the workshop we learned about the triangular pattern that was used to transport goods and collect slaves as well as how goods were transported into buildings all at the same time. It was very informative and I enjoyed it thoroughly. We then had time to explore the museum but particularly the section relating to Black History.
After exploring the museum we finished our trip in style. We went to Pizza Pilgrim which is rated one of top ten pizza places in London. Rightfully so! The pizza was delicious with the perfect amount of stretch on the cheese. For dessert we had smooth, creamy ice cream and I had vanilla. However, what made the trip perfect was the Foosball table in Pizza Pilgrim that we could play on. Everyone had lots of fun playing on it. Overall, I had a wonderful day, full of fun while learning so much new information, and I would definitely go back again.” AK, Year 5
“First we had to get there.The journey took a horrific hour. After a while, I tried to get some sleep but we were too excited to get there and have an amazing time. When we arrived, my friends and I had to stand up because we had been sitting down like sloths waiting for our favorite food. We had about a five minute amazing walk seeing the river Thames and the Sun was nice as we had been sitting down for an hour and a bit.
After a lovely walk we walked up a staircase to heaven to get to the loading station at the top. Then we met a nice gentleman called Ben who told us about how the dock workers transported the supplies up and down, the history of black people and told us some interesting facts.
When Ben had to go, we split up and my group went to a quiz board and answered some questions and saw torture chambers the slaves owners used to punish the slaves. If they tried to run away a special instrument was attached to the sugar cane so they would fall over if they tried to escape.
For lunch at 12:30 we ate at an Italian pizza restaurant. It was delicious.The crust was homemade with lovely gooey cheese , which was nice as it dripped down from our mouths. For dessert we ate ice-cream and most of us had vanilla. Afterwards it was time to get back to school and we had a 1hr 30min drive as the traffic was horrible and I got car-sick. But it was the best trip we had ever been on and we learnt a lot that day.” TA, Year 5
