The MP David Lammy visited Kingsmead Primary School on Monday 4th November to speak to children for a special Black History Month assembly.

Kingsmead’s pupils have been learning about inspirational figures from the past and present for Black History Month – (with Year 3 children having Mr Lammy as their present day inspirational figure). Mr Lammy certainly delivered an inspiring talk to the children, informing them that he was born in Tottenham, London and grew up on a housing estate very like the one surrounding Kingsmead Primary school and explaining to the children the best advice he was given was to ‘go to school every day and take what is in your teachers brains for free’! He also told children that along with Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, his mother, a hard-working single parent of five children, had been an inspirational figure for him, telling him to ‘live up to your ancestors’ dreams and prayers’.

He explained that before becoming an MP he had worked as a barrister. Mr Lammy told children that they needed to be resilient and strong, and stand up for their rights and the rights of others, urging them to become involved and engaged with the world around them. Oscar, a Year 3 pupil told Mr Lammy that he too wanted to be a barrister when he grows up.

After the whole school assembly, pupils in Years 5 and 6 had a further Q&A session where they were able to ask Mr Lammy a range of questions they had taken time to think about. Mr Lammy was very impressed and said the children had posed some of the best questions he’d ever been asked in a school!

Special thanks to Olivia, our Humanities lead, for making this visit possible.