Throughout October, the Black History Month Team have hosted a variety of events aiming to educate, celebrate and enrich our understanding of black culture. As the theme this year is “Saluting our Sisters”, we aimed to uplift the voices of black women through our “Wally Girls Unfiltered” podcast. This was an opportunity for Black youth to discuss nuanced topics such as intersectionality and stereotyping in an open and supportive setting. We hope that this has empowered younger students to speak up in situations where they may feel uncomfortable. 

To continue the ‘Saluting Our Sisters Theme’ we also displayed posters on black female scientists, which were displayed on the TV screens around the school throughout the month. Furthermore, we created a BHM Pop Quiz to highlight the often-underappreciated contributions of black people to society. This was an interactive event, aiming to educate in a fun and informal way.  

It was also great to see so many students performing in our BHM Poetry Slam, focusing on the theme of “Empowerment”. Creating a supportive space for students to speak up was really important to us, and the school spirit was high during this session.  

We were excited to welcome a guest speaker to the Year 13 lecture programme, who discussed pivotal yet underappreciated black women throughout history. Examples included Nanny of the Maroons and Winnie Mandela and this celebration of black women in history’s narrative was truly an empowering experience.  

As well as this, ACS’s assembly to Sixth Form concerning black female inventors, was enlightening. For example, we learned that the people behind the GPS system and safety cameras were black women. We really appreciated the opportunities in the past month to re-centre black women and their stories in a narrative often written by others.  

We were also delighted to host our Fusion Showcase on the 24^th November which is a combined Black History Month and Diwali event. This involved dance pieces, singing, spoken word and so much more. This event was a celebration of our cultures, with the school community invited to enjoy the diversity of our school. We had an excellent turnout and look forward to seeing some of these performances again at the school Winter Fair and end of term assembly.