Story by Rashida Hassanali
For people who don’t know St Catherine’s, this vibrant community Catholic school hosts learning for children and adults with heritage in more than 30 different countries. During Family Learning Week (11–17 October) families proudly brought in special items such as photographs, certificates, family trees, food and clothes.
Hlabera told Year 1 children about life in Zambia, where he and his family are from. “What food do people eat in Yorkshire?” he asked. “Yorkshire Pudding with gravy” came the reply. “Yes! Lots of us enjoy Yorkshire Pudding. Now do you know what the staple food is in Zambia?” We soon did and hope that Komoza’s dad will come into school soon to cook ‘munshima’ for us to taste, made from maize flour and eaten with meat and vegetables by many people in Zambia.
Joy was mobbed with questions as she and her friend Joanne talked about patois, aaki and the weather, and passed round sweet smelling mangoes and green bananas. “As soon as you get off the plane in Jamaica, you take life slow. We make time for school, church and all the rest, but unhurried,” she said. Compared to the pace of life here, this was an appealing prospect.
In Year 5, grandparents told Nikki Wilson of Burngreave Voices about their lives and what it was like living in Sheffield during and after World War II. We learned about a grandfather who at 16 escaped from a concentration camp and joined the Polish army; about growing up on a pig farm in Darnall, and having to walk through the neighbour’s yard to go to the outside loo at night! Judith told us about the five generations of women in her family from granddaughter Frances to her great grandmother who died aged 103!
Families had the chance to try out African, Arabic and Irish dancing and everyone was encouraged to ask questions. Without causing offence or feeling threatened we all learned something about other cultures and other people – family learning at its best. You can see a display of photos from family learning week at St Catherine’s School.