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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

Last night teachers taking part in the Black Georgians project got the first glimpse of the exhibition at Black Cultural Archives which is the inspiration of the project with year 5 classes. This project has been generously funded by Clore Literature and Poetry Awards and Ernest Cook Trust. There were about 15,000 black people in UK in Georgian times, across all levels of society. The exhibition shows what we know of some of them – fragments of information from which we can start up investigations into their lives. Our project will include visits to the exhibition, poetry and creative writing workshops, cartoon drawing workshops and a final display of work in December. Teachers last night had a go at cartoon drawing with cartoonist Steve Marchant, and were shown some of the Georgian history on our doorstep in Clapham where 18 black boys and 4 black girls from Sierra Leone were educated at the African Academy. Their stories capture some of the diverse stories of black Georgians of the time – some sons of princes, some sons and daughters of emancipated slaves, some of families in Sierra Leone that sold others to the slave trade. This is a year 5 project that runs from now until December. The exhibition is on a Black Cultural Archives in Windrush Square until next year and is well worth a visit.

On Wednesday evening, our EYFS forum members met to spend some time outside for a change, discovering the wealth of learning opportunities in the local park for young children’s learning. This was part of an introduction to Natural Thinkers, Lambeth’s programme developed from Forest Schools, delivered by Assistant Head of Jessop Primary Dougal Morton. We collected objects in the park to make bookmarks, learnt how to make a safe fire to enjoy with very young children and how to whittle elder wood to make beads and pendants, all activities that can be done with very young children. Thanks to all the staff who attended and to Dougal for leading.