Latest News

Yesterday 30 gifted and talented artists from KS2 in our cluster began work on a project in partnership with London Wildlife Trust and led by art teachers Hannah Littlejohn and Esther Adesigbin from Christ Church Primary and Helen Spring from the London Wildlife Trust. The project centres round the local River Effra, that was enclosed underground when the Victorian sewers were constructed, but is now occasionally seen in the area during flooding. One solution to prevent the river overflowing is to create small green spaces where the water can soak into the ground beneath. One such place is going to be at the roundabout of Milkwood and Lowden Roads, and the children’s art work will be part of decorative work within this new green space. To get the project ‘flowing’ the children experimented with paint to create a river collective piece. They then worked with printing and clay to express the wildlife theme. The children will do a further day’s making next month and their final piece will be on permanent display at the roundabout next year.

This morning Christ Church SW9 year 5 have been retelling the life of black Georgian Mary Prince in poetry. Mary Prince was sold not once but 4 times to a series of slave owners, auctioned off as a child, split up from her brothers and sisters and for a while working 17 hours at day in a salt pond in the Caribbean. She married a free man in Antigua but was taken by her owner to England where she had to choose between her marriage or living as a free woman. She became an author of the first slave account published in England and petitioned parliament on abolition. Truly and inspiring figure to write about and the children rose the challenge with powerful words. We are now starting to look forward to the presentation of all the children’s poems and drawing at the Black Cultural Archives on 4th and 5th December. Thanks as always to Adisa the Verbaliser for bringing Mary Prince to life for us in class today.

Yesterday Adisa the Verbaliser and young poets from Stockwell Primary year 5 celebrated the life of Ignatius Sancho, a black Georgian born on a slave ship, brought to England as a servant who went on to own his own shop, composed his own music and became a respected man of letters, painted by Thomas Gainsborough and important in the Abolitionist movement. The children wrote poems inspired by Ignatius using metaphors in response to the refrain ‘My instrument my pen’ and ‘ these hands’. The young poets spent 2 full hours engaged in thought and writing. This project, in partnership with the Black Cultural Archives and generously funded by Clore Poetry and Literature Awards and the Ernest Cooke Trust, is challenging children to learn more about Black Georgian Society, exposing the children to challenging texts and extending their creative skills in poetry writing. Many thanks to Adisa, Miss Milner , Miss de Santis and the children in year 5 at Stockwell.

Low Cost no cost flyer no 140 November 2015.docx

This week, children in year 3 from St Saviour’s, St John’s Angell Town and Jessop Primaries started their series of 4 weekly workshops exploring maths concepts through photography. All the children used precise measuring skills to make a pinhole camera from a cardboard box, black paper and tape – 2 hours of concentrated practical maths skills in action! They are now ready to take photos next week! Thanks to all the class teachers, TAs and the staff and volunteers from Fotosynthesis for guiding the children through this process.

Low Cost no cost flyer no 139 November 2015.docx

5 classes of year 5 students from the BLC were among the first visitors to see the Black Georgians exhibition that has just opened at the Black Cultural Archives. Children took a special tour of the exhibition to find out about some of the characters portrayed in it, taking on the role of historical detectives as they pieced together lives through fragments of information we know today. The children then did a workshop learning about the life of champion black Georgian heavy weight boxer Tom Molyneaux, born a slave in America, who through his fighting skills bought his freedom and came to England where he established himself as champion, though he faced racial prejudice. They heard Olaudah Equiano’s description of a slave’s journey in a first person narrative on a slave ship from Africa. The children then acted out scenes from Tom’s life which they set as silhouettes, a popular way of capturing likenesses at the time. After half term the children will start a series of workshops where they will read and hear more accounts of life for Black Georgians and write their own responses, under the expert guidance of wordsmith Adisa.

Low Cost no cost flyer no 138 October half term 2015.docx

Low Cost no cost flyer no 137 October 2015.docx