For this week's 'An Evening with...' event, Shiplake College was delighted to welcome Founder and CEO of The Black Curriculum, Lavinya Stennett for a conversation with Headmaster, Mr Tyrone Howe.
The Black Curriculum is a social enterprise founded in 2019 by young people to address the lack of Black British history in the UK Curriculum. They believe that by delivering arts focused Black history programmes, providing teacher training and campaigning through mobilising young people, we can facilitate social change.
Their programmes are for all young people aged 8-16 with the aim to equip them with a sense of identity, and the tools for a diverse landscape. The Black Curriculum is working towards changing the national curriculum and building a sense of identity in every young person in the UK.
Mr Howe started the conversation by asking how Lavinya came up with the idea to launch the Black Curriculum social enterprise.
She said: “It was 2018 and I was in my second year at university studying African Studies at SOAS. I had achieved a scholarship to go to New Zealand to study Mauri land law. I instantly saw that people in New Zealand could engage and feel empowered by open conversations about their history. I felt there was a real lack of understanding and knowledge of black histories in the UK. Most people think it started with the Windrush. I applied for a grant while I was there to set up a social enterprise with the main aim of developing a more cohesive society through the teaching of black histories in the national curriculum all year around, and not just during Black History Month.
“We started off with a team of 5-10 freelancers, but by this April we will be a team of 30. We go into schools and offer teacher and senior leadership training, workshops and curriculum audits.
“We take teachers on a journey of learning and support them in an open and honest environment.
“Our main theory of change is that we want young people to be empowered through a sense of identity and belonging, on a national, cultural and racial level. Ultimately we want to give them confidence to take more ownership of how they understand themselves and how they engage with someone of another race.”
Mr Howe and Lavinya then went on to talk about the impact of Great Britain leaving the EU and also the Black Lives Matter movement.
"The Black Curriculum is not just for black students but for all students; it is important that all students know British history in its full entirety so that we can all be empowered and informed. Whilst we may have Brexit we are not all going to stay on this island forever, we may go on holiday or may do a residential or a scholarship somewhere and interact with other people and it's really important that you come into those interactions with an open mind.
As well as working with schools and teachers, The Black Curriculum is working with various exam boards about how black history is covered on their syllabuses.
She said: “If they are not covering black history in schools it leaves people disempowered and misinformed. If you don’t know the key facts, how can you set the future?”
Thank you Lavinya for an engaging and enlightening conversation. We wish you well for the future with The Black Curriculum and hopefully you will come back and visit us soon.
Feedback for Lavinya Stennett
Really interesting and informative. Sensitive subject and glad to see we are engaged in this narrative.
I just wanted to say another thank you for last night's "An Evening With ..." Lavinya was a very eloquent young lady and it was very interesting, and important, hearing her speak.
This was the best yet. This makes me so proud to work at Shiplake.
