A group of students at a Shirebrook school took a leading role in shining a light on Britain’s unknown multi-cultural past when they signed up as ambassadors for Black History Month.

Twenty-five Year 10 youngsters from Shirebrook Academy spent a month working in a series of activities with their peers to raise awareness of black Britons who played key roles in their communities and society, right back to the days of the Roman Empire.

They also canvassed opinions among other students about which black Britons from history or the present day inspire them, as part of a range of Black History Month events that took place across the whole school.

The activities were devised by the school’s humanities department, which used this year’s theme — Proud To Be — to explore the uplifting and positive stories.

In particular, students explored the experience of black people living in Britain before the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in 1948, including their presence at events such as the Battle of Agincourt, as soldiers serving during the Roman occupation, and as entrepreneurs living during the Industrial Revolution.

Liam Woolley, head of humanities at the academy, said the work led to everyone across the school gaining a better understanding of black history and praised the student ambassadors for taking a leading role.

“Across the curriculum we look at the experiences of black people in history and culture, but we have tended to concentrate on the negative aspects like slavery and we don’t do enough to celebrate the positives,” he said.

“This was a chance to change that, and we decided that there could be no better way to approach it than by recruiting student ambassadors to take the message directly to their peers and work with them to put together Black History Month displays.

“The response was fantastic. It’s no secret that Shirebrook isn’t as multi-cultural as other communities, so to see our school community embrace Black History Month in such a positive and focused way has been very encouraging.”

One of the students taking part, Tallula Sowah, said: “Black History Month is important to me because it is my history and it runs through me.

“People need to know how to celebrate the positive history. I have experienced racism myself and I hope to be an example for young black people to speak out, so they know they are not alone.”

Fellow student Maizy Allsop added: “Black history is so important to me and I wanted to become a leader of the black history project so that I could raise awareness of it.

“I have encountered racism in the past and would like to make a difference.”