Year 9 Humanities students finished last term looking at ‘The Caribbean Windrush Generation’, then on to discovering important facts about the country of India, in particular their social, economic, environmental and historical context.

We looked at the reasons why sons and daughters, fathers and mothers left their various countries of origin such as Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Bahamas, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines to come to the UK and the challenges they would encounter whilst moving to England, the country they contributed so much to and would eventually become their life long home.

Some of these brave and courageous people fought in the British military in WW2 and being a part of the British empire felt it an obvious move, as well as becoming nurses, doctors, carpenters, builders, cleaners, factory workers and so much more.

We then moved on to look at the country of India, its population, economy, social and environmental status. We also looked at other things such as music, food and entertainment and how these have impacted the world and how we can enjoy India and its beautiful culture right here in the west!

We brought these informative lessons to a wonderful end by celebrating both Caribbean and Indian culture together. So we arranged for Caribbean and Indian delicacies to be brought in on our last lesson together as a Year 9 class.

We pretended to board a jet at Vandyke in Leighton Buzzard and fly over to Jamaica stopping at a Kingston food market listening to Bob Marley and the Wailers and other Caribbean artists. Sampling foods such as Jamaican chicken, lamb and vegetable patties, West Indian bun and bulla cake, fried plantain and gizzarda (deliciously made from coconut and pastry).  We then boarded our imaginary jet and flew straight onto New Delhi in India and again stopped off for another food tasting session, sampling foods such as Samosas, Onion Bhajis, Chapati and an assortment of various Indian sweets, while listening to traditional Banghra music in the background.

It made for a wonderful last lesson for these students, who were exceptionally well behaved through the year and worked tremendously hard every single lesson, and I’m sure an experience that will be etched in their minds for a very long time.

Well done 92Z1/Hu, it was an absolute pleasure teaching you.

Lastly, a big thank you to Mrs Jardine in Catering  for helping prepare and keep the food hot and deliverooo-ing it to us.

Mr Brown, Public Services & Humanities