A Holloway primary school teacher has modernised her school’s curriculum to include more lessons on black history.
Hafiza Ali, who teaches year six at Hungerford Primary School, has expanded the syllabus to weave more black history into teaching throughout the year, instead of purely during Black History Month in October.
“We felt Black History Month is quite tokenistic, and it’s under-representing our children,” said Miss Ali. “We created a curriculum where we make sure we teach them about people from different parts of the world. Black history is British history,” said Miss Ali.
Miss Ali has begun delivering new lessons to teach the children at Hungerford about the enslavement of African and Caribbean people and systemic racism in Britain.
Her Year Six class also complete a project called ‘Traders’, aimed to better understand the legacy of colonialism.
“It’s really important that our curriculum is representative of our diverse community, and that it recognises the huge contributions of black and brown people throughout history.”
Head teacher Jo Stephens
The revamp was inspired by Miss Ali’s diverse training opportunities. Last summer, she attended a course at Oxford University that educated teachers on the transatlantic slave trade and the corrosivity of the British Empire.
Miss Ali has attended events at the US Embassy in London, learning how to promote diversity in school lessons. These events gave her the opportunity to meet the Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees, the first black man to be a mayor in Europe, which she said was “incredibly inspirational.” Bristol was once the epicentre of Britain’s transatlantic slave trade.
Head teacher Jo Stephens was supportive of the changes. She said: “It’s really important that our curriculum is representative of our diverse community, and that it recognises the huge contributions of black and brown people throughout history.”
Miss Ali said she wanted the children to “know their history, as it will allow them to form their place in the world”.
