Year 5

Central Idea: 'Finding resolution to conflicts between people may lead to a better quality of life.'

Line of inquiry 1: There Are Many Different Causes of Conflict

We began our learning this term thinking about when conflict arises in our daily lives and how we currently solve some of those conflicts from children's own experiences of talking things through to using 'rock, paper scissors.

We then moved onto considering how conflict arises in our local community often things such as traffic, noise and littering. Through the lens of history we looked at significant conflicts, which Britain has been part of, and children identified whether there were common causes settling on power, empire and ideology.

From this, we then looked at some of the causes of WW1 where children developed their research and historian skills. We then looked at the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. As part of this children used primary sources, acted out the assassination and used all their knowledge to then write a newspaper report.

Line of inquiry 2: Peace and Conflict Affect All People

During this line of inquiry we focused on World War one as our significant conflict. Inspired by the book 'War Horse' we began by looking at the role of horses during the conflict and whether they were heroes or victims. Children conducted their own research before using this to write a balanced argument as to why these animals should and should not have been used.

We then took part in a brilliant trip to CEMA (Kent Showground) where children were able to walk through and see a replica of a World War one trench before learning about the equipment and food they had, medical surgery during this time and how the conflict impacted men, women and children back home. The children gained a great deal of knowledge from this. They then applied what they learnt to sketching a cross section of a trench before researching about life in the trench and the hardships the men had to endure.

Line of inquiry 3: Ways That Resolution May Redefine Society

For our final line of inquiry we looked at how finding resolutions to conflict can, on occasion, improve and redefine society. We looked at some of the medical advancements made during this time such as x-rays and how wounds were treated which lead to increased survival rates. Children also learnt about the Treaty of Versailles and the impact this had and whether it was fair or lead to further conflict later on. Children researched and explored a range of propaganda and considered the messages behind the posters before finally looking at how this conflict had given women a greater role in society. Finally, linking back to our Central Idea and action, the children joined in with solving a community conflict. They took part in the Great big Clean up demonstrating how finding a resolution can lead to a better quality of life.