PUBLISHED 16 October 2020
Pupils in both Year 7 and Year 8 have a weekly Rainbow Reading lesson in the AKS Library. Alongside our English teacher, Miss Morgan, our Librarian, helps to ensure we are on task and that we complete each task set. The activities are colour coded in the colours of the rainbow and each task gets harder as you go through the colours. I completed each rainbow task in the first tier and now I have started on the more advanced tasks. There has been lots of learning taking place this half term with book reviews being written, interviews of historical figures and letters to newspaper editors, all part of our ongoing learning. Here are all those in 8S who have been awarded a certificate this half term.
Each half term in Rainbow Reading, our focus shifts to a Round Square Discovery. This half term, we have been looking at ‘Appreciation of Diversity’ with the focus being on Black History Month. Miss Morgan delivered a fantastic presentation which explained the history of the fight against racism. The pupils learnt all about where racism started, when the civil rights movement began and the current state of racism across the World. When I spoke to Archie, he said “I am appalled by the racism going on in the world at the moment. I knew about George Floyd, but I didn’t know that this had happened to Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. I cannot believe racism like this is happening in our world right now.” This lesson was key in developing my understanding of the importance of historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela. This cartoon really made me understand the importance of the saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ and I wanted to share it with you.
At the end of the lesson, the students wrote their own version of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ and here is my contribution to the ‘Wall of Dreams’.
‘I have a dream that one day, every single human being will be treated exactly the same. A world where racism is unknown to the younger generation because it no longer exists. I hope no one lives in fear or is fearful of others.’
Alfie K, 8S