With its view across the Channel from an East Sussex clifftop, the elite girls’ boarding school Roedean has always had an international outlook.
It will now become one of the first private schools to rewrite its history syllabus, abandoning the “island story” beloved of Michael Gove and challenging the “white western narrative” after this year’s Black Lives Matter protests.
The school, founded in 1885 by three sisters to help girls to get into the women’s colleges at Cambridge University, is transforming history lessons for pupils aged 11 to 14.
Girls will learn about black Tudors, Queen Victoria’s black goddaughter and how Africans helped to resist the slave trade. As well as the Norman Conquest, they will have lessons on the Song dynasty that ruled in China from 960 to 1279.
Pupils will be encouraged to see the Second World War in a global context, examining how it was experienced in countries other than Britain. They will also study global societal changes in the postwar era.
Mr Gove, who was education secretary in 2010-14, said that schools should focus on Britain in history lessons. He said in 2010: “The current approach we have to history denies children the opportunity to hear our island story. This trashing of our past has to stop.”
He said that British history would be put at the heart of a revived national curriculum. In the same year David Cameron chose Our Island Story by Henrietta Marshall, published in 1905, as his favourite children’s book.
Oliver Blond, Roedean’s headmaster, said: “We wanted to challenge the predominantly western European narrative and to look beyond the limitations of Britain’s ‘island story’, to discover hidden histories both nationally and internationally.
“The question was raised as to whether everyone in the Roedean community saw themselves in the history they study at school and to this end more diverse perspectives have been incorporated within the existing programme, in order to challenge preconceptions and stimulate debate.
“We hope that some of this passion to rediscover the past both at home and around the world will inspire the pupils towards a deeper love of history.”
Older pupils will continue with more conventional history lessons to fit in with the demands of the syllabus at GCSE and A-level. The school has vowed to open up debate to ensure that those year groups explore a diversity of viewpoints and perspectives.
Roedean is one of the best-known girls’ boarding schools in the country, charging fees of up to £40,000 and attracting pupils from around the world.
Most are from the UK but many come from China, although the proportion is reported to have dropped in recent years. Native speakers of Mandarin or Cantonese can take their GCSE Chinese from Year 10.
The decolonised history syllabus will focus on local issues such as the legacy of the slave trade in Brighton and learning about Sake Dean Mahomed, who introduced Indian cuisine to Europe and became known as Dr Brighton after opening a vapour bath on the shore.
Girls will also be taught about Sara Forbes Bonetta, who was sold into slavery, brought to England and mentored by Queen Victoria, who became godmother to her child. In addition, lessons will cover Middle Ages power systems and the Islamic Empire.
Sarah Black, the school’s head of history, said: “While we have been keen to add new units of study, we have also been mindful not to take a tokenistic approach and have wanted rather to integrate new perspectives from a more diverse range of groups . . . to challenge preconceptions and stimulate debate.”
In October Roedean hosted a one-day virtual conference for Black History Month. Speakers included Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Commonwealth secretary-general, Baroness Amos, master of University College, Oxford, Dorothy Koomson, the author, and Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, the co-founder of UK Black Pride.
Eton College said in June that it would decolonise its curriculum and increase the number of black teachers after an appeal from pupils and parents. Simon Henderson, the head master, said he would take all necessary steps to ensure Etonians “understand the historic roots of racism and . . . how it continues in the world today”.
• Honours titles associated with the British Empire are “offensive” and should be rebranded, Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, has said.
