“Are We Nearly There Yet?” - Migration & North
Kensington by Year 6
For hundreds of years the community of North Kensington has been made up of people from various parts
of the world. Dating back to the Middle Ages, the Romany Gypsy encampment in Notting Dale was
believed to have been the largest in the vicinity of London.
1800s – Early 1900s
A large number of Irish immigrants arrived in London during the 1850s because of the potato famine. A
number settled in the Kensal New Town area and many of the men worked on building the London
underground system.
The Welsh dairymen and drapers established themselves in London during the late 1800s and there were
many Welsh dairies around the North Kensington and Paddington area in addition to the rest of London.
In the late 1800s early 1900s up to WWI a large number of German immigrants settled locally and there
were many German bakers and butchers in North Kensington along Portobello Road, Ladbroke Grove and
Golborne Road. Many of the German community were interned during the First World War and then again
at the start of WWII.
1930s – 1970s
From 1936 – 1939, Spanish refugees from the Spanish Civil War arrived in London and some settled in
North Kensington because of links with the Priest of St Mary of The Angels, who was from Bilbao, Northern
Spain.
In 1945 Irish immigrants came to rebuild London during after WWII. Irish communities settled around
Paddington station where the trains from Wales, (Fishguard and Holyhead) arrived.
In 1948 the first Caribbean migrants, recruited to work in Britain after World War II, arrived in Britain on
the SS Empire Windrush. By 1961 there were over 100,000 Caribbean people living in London. Caribbean
migrants often found homes in areas of slum or poor housing. One of these areas was Notting Hill in North
Kensington. Many members of the African Caribbean community arrived in the local area during the
1950s, 1960s and 1970s after often initially living in other UK cities. The Caribbean children, who arrived in
the 1960s onwards, had frequently been looked after by grandparents or other relatives back home in the
West Indies. Parents sent for their children when they had established themselves in work, found suitable
accommodation for their families and saved enough money for their aeroplane tickets.
Also during the 1950s and 1960s, many Spanish and Portuguese people moved to London including North
Kensington, during these years because of the extreme right wing governments of Franco and Salazar, in
Spain and Portugal. Instituto Español Vicente Cañada Blanch on Portobello Road, known locally as “The
Spanish School”, moved from south London to North Kensington in 1982.
From 1968 to the early 1970s, people from Larache in northwest Morocco were recruited by an
employment agency advertising vacancies locally for the London hotel and catering trades. The men came
first and then once they were established they sent for their wives and children. Al Manar (a Muslim
Cultural Centre) on Acklam Road was completed in 2001. People from other North African countries such
as Algeria have since settled in the North Kensington area.
1980s
Although people from Somalia settled in Britain many years ago (said to be one of the oldest communities
from Africa in this country) a large number of Somalis started to arrive in Britain during the early 1980s
until a peak in 2001 because of conflict in Somalia. This was also the reason that small numbers of Eriteans
and Sudanese came to the North Kensington area around the same time.
With thanks to local historian, Margaret Tyler for helping to collate and write the above timeline of local
migration.
The Pupils’ Learning Experience
“Are We Nearly There Yet?” by Year 6 began with a geographical study of the local area, which had a
particular focus on map work and becoming more familiar with the facilities available to local people. They
then began to explore the many reasons that people migrate across the world; applied mathematical skills
to produce data about the range of languages spoken at St Thomas’ CE Primary School; then carried out
‘local language surveys’ to compare school data with data from the wider community. In addition, in art,
pupils focussed on identifying the different ways that the influence of migrant communities has shaped our
physical environment. For example, they went on local field trips to find buildings, artworks, patterns and
shapes originating from abroad. This culminated in a project with the Courtauld Institute of Art and
involved a study of the work of local artist Bridget Riley. Pupils’ artwork, over the course of the year,
continued to use the diversity of the area as a stimulus: they depicted the range of businesses on Golborne
Road and painted pieces inspired by visits to the local markets and the Caribbean community, entitled,
‘Fruits from the Caribbean’.
Pupils then moved on to carrying out a historical study about the experiences of the African Caribbean
community, who moved to Britain. As part of this, they visited The Pepper Pot Centre on St Mark’s Road to
interview elders from the Caribbean community. They also went on a ‘Black History Walk’ of the local area,
to learn more about the contributions to Britain made by the non-white members of our local community.
Pupils produced a number of written pieces from this investigation, including poetry and creative letters.