The Brilliant Club Graduation

This term’s cohort of Year 7 Brilliant Club Scholars graduated from Cambridge University. All students secured either firsts or 2:1s in their final assignment titled “Windrush, Migration and Belonging in Modern Britain”. They have worked incredibly hard with their PhD Tutor from the University of Verona and they had an excellent day meeting students currently at Cambridge and touring the campus.

Our Year 7 graduates were: Theo, Ashanti, Jibaran, Shira, Serhan, Darcy, Elitsa, Imraan, Erk, Arbnora and Zakia.

Please read the introduction of Shira Rosenberg’s assignment:

The sense of belonging within the Windrush generation changed dramatically from when they arrived in the UK in 1948 to the present day. Many people from the Caribbean considered themselves to belong in Britain as they had been raised to feel proud of their ‘motherland.’ In school, children were made to sing ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ every day. Newspapers had articles based on Britain with British propaganda and information. This is because the Caribbean was part of the British empire. This gave many Caribbean families the illusion that they would be warmly welcomed.

The Windrush migration began in 1948 and continued to 1970. Many economic migrants from the Caribbean came to Britain on the Empire Windrush in aspiration of getting better jobs and advancement. However, once in Britain, people struggled to find housing and well-paying jobs. Black people faced discrimination and racism after arriving in Britain. When the migration happened, Britain's population had decreased dramatically due to the Second World War. Many Caribbean men had fought alongside British soldiers during the Second World War as Britain needed RAF recruits. The Windrush scandal in 2018 suggests that the attitudes towards migrants from the Caribbean have changed over time.