October is famously known as the Black History Month across the world. The theme of the UK Black History Month 2023 is “Saluting our Sisters”, which focuses on the achievements of Black British women. Many schools in the UK adopts this special celebration as an extra-curriculum session for their students; Chigwell School is one of the many. “This is the third year in which we are celebrating Black History Month.” Said Mrs A Savage, Deputy Head of Chigwell School, “When you coordinate Black History Month for a few years, it is challenging to come up with new ideas and not repeating the same thing.” Indeed, this year’s Black History Month was encountered with various activities which differ from the previous years, all organised by a group of students, known as the Equality Ambassadors. Influential literature from famous Black British writers, such as Benjamin Zephaniah, was read out during the whole-school assembly. Student-lead societies, for example, feminist society, culture society, debating society, have all turned their gaze onto Black British History. Uniform embellishment to raise money for the charity “Cycle for Africa”, young musicians performing Afro-beats, posters and Afro-Caribbean flags are decorated among the school, the list extends. 

 

“Looking around pupils’ uniform on Friday, it’s great to see the different colours on uniform and I felt like students are very engaged.” Commented by Kayuki, a Year 12 student who was part of the organizing. Mrs A Savage further reflects on the successfulness of the event by “Students are talking about it, meaning that we have made an impact, this leads to more questions asked by them. We see it as a door opened for our students to be introduced to Black British History.”