Black History Month

October is Black History Month but here at Gray’s, we don’t want to restrict it to just one month. As such, we have been working hard to redesign and develop our wider curriculum. Our aim is to create a curriculum that prepares our children for life beyond Gray’s Farm and the classroom; a curriculum that gives them opportunities to be excited about learning and develop enquiring minds whilst giving them access to lessons that celebrate diversity and promote acceptance. We want a curriculum that allows our children to regularly learn about, and be inspired by, individuals from all backgrounds, cultures, religions and ethnicities. It is really important for us as a school, that the celebration of different cultures is embedded in our lessons and discussed frequently at every opportunity possible throughout the year and not just throughout the month of October. Weaving diversity throughout our curriculum is an on-going project and something we all feel incredibly passionate about.

We want to focus on how the persistence and determination of significant individuals, from all backgrounds, have positively influenced the world in which we live and celebrate their achievements and contributions. We have considered how we can represent different cultures in all of our subjects, from Art to PE. Year 5’s current science topic on Space is a recent example of how we have enhanced our curriculum to celebrate the impact different females had on developments in space. These have included learning about the first woman to travel in space – a Russian lady called Valentina Tereshkova, and how three female African-American mathematicians (Katherine Jonson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan) played a fundamental role in launching the first man into orbit.