The National Association of Black Supplementary Schools (NABSS) is a resource, information and advice centre for supplementary schools aimed at Black children and parents in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Supplementary schools for the children of
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
and African migrants in the UK were first set up in the 1970s to combat the impact of racism on the educational achievement of Black children. By 2013 there were around 50 Saturday schools in the UK for Black children. NABSS was formally established in 1987 as the National Association of Supplementary Schools (NASS), which in turn grew out of the Black Education Movement and Black Parents Movement that had been "active since the late 1960s to secure improvements in the education of Black children." Its first chairman was
John La Rose
John La Rose (27 December 1927 – 28 February 2006) was a political and cultural activist, poet, writer, publisher, founder in 1966 of New Beacon Books, the first specialist Caribbean publishing company in Britain, and subsequently Chairman of ...
, and it initially received funding from the
Inner London Education Authority
The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. From 1965 to 1986 it was an ad hoc committee of the Greater London Co ...
before that was shut down by
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
's
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government in 1989. The records of NASS are held at the
George Padmore Institute
The George Padmore Institute (GPI), founded in 1991 in Stroud Green Road, North London, by John La Rose (1927–2006) and a group of political and cultural activists connected to New Beacon Books,
Dr
Kehinde Andrews
Kehinde Nkosi Andrews (born January 1983) is a British academic and author specialising in Black Studies.
Andrews is a Professor of Black Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University. He is the director of the Centre ...
, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at
Birmingham City University
Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...
, has noted that there has been little research about the Black supplementary school system in the UK because "Most of the effort to overcome racism in education
ave
is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...
focused on changes to mainstream schooling and policy. Andrews notes that "The biggest issue facing Black supplementary schools is the decline in attendance. Student numbers were at their peak from the late 1970s to the early 1990s." Andrews has published a book on the Black education movement in the UK, called ''Resisting racism: Race, inequality and the Black supplementary school movement'' (2013).
In 1997,
Diane Reay
Diane Reay is a sociologist and academic, who is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge. She is noted for her study about educational inequalities among students in state schools in the United Kingdom. She has maintained t ...
and Heidi Safia Mirza also conducted a small-scale study of four Black supplementary schools, using a genealogical approach, which found "evidence of a female-centred new social movement" that challenged assumptions about Black, female, and working-class agency.
Activist Nia Imara has stated: "It is no secret that the education system is failing black children and there is little or no focus on black history and heritage." Rapper and social activist Akala recounted going to a Black Saturday school as a child in the 1980s in his book ''Natives'', and credited the extra education in black history with helping to shape a positive identity for him as a teenager.
In 1996, Educator (Rosemary Campbell-Stephens MBE) was commissioned by Birmingham Partnership for Change (BPC) and the Supplementary School working group of BPC's Education Forum to undertake a small-scale review and evaluation of the then provision within the Supplementary School movement in Birmingham, UK. The Campbell report, A Review of Supplementary Schools in Birmingham 1996 was published by Birmingham Partnership for Change. the report identified eleven recommendations to empower, unite and develop the Saturday school movement in Birmingham.