During the month of February, our Music, English Literature and PE Departments collaborated with the US Embassy in Cyprus to commemorate Black History Month.
Students in Year 6 were taught about the genre of Blues Music, including its history and the legendary B.B. King. They created their own presentations on this time period and genre and played some blues on their own iPad keyboards.
The Year 13 A Level Literature classes attended an excellent online lecture on Black Radicalism in the United States, by Dr Nicholas M. Creary (Associate Provost for Academic Inclusion and Innovation, Associate Professor of History at Moravian College in Pennsylvania). Direct links and comparisons were drawn with the context of Apartheid South Africa and the four Athol Fugard plays they are studying. The Q&A session at the end of the lecture raised some very interesting discussion on Racism then and now.
Year 10 and 11 IGCSE PE students watched and discussed the online screening of the critically acclaimed documentary “Willie“. The film tells the story of Willie O’Ree, a descendant of escaped slaves who became the first black player to skate in a National Hockey League game. This documentary greatly complemented the section in the PE IGCSE syllabus on Discrimination in Sports and the creation of positive role models.
We would like to thank the US Embassy for this collaboration, which truly enriched our students’ learning.