Year 6
Our transdisciplinary theme this term is ‘Where We Are In Time And Place` and the central idea that we have been exploring is: ‘Past societies can influence how we live.`
As part of this term’s provocation, the children took part in three different workshops. The first workshop was ‘Victorian Life’ - the children travelled back in time to unscramble events from the Victorian era. Another workshop was ‘Victorian games,’ where the children had the chance to explore and make different games that Victorians would have played with. Finally, the last workshop was a drama workshop where the children performed Oliver Twist. They thoroughly enjoyed all three workshops and were excited for the term’s learning.
Also at the start of the term, the children had a Victorian come to visit our school! Throughout this session, the children were introduced to the world of Victorian schools and what life was like being a child in the Victorian era. The children were really excited throughout this and even got to become actors and actresses and reenact scenes from Queen Victoria’s coronation and create role plays that demonstrated Victorian inventions!
Once the children had been introduced to this term’s topic, they started the term by discovering many ideas about ‘The creation of civilisations’. The children were inquirers into the British Empire and how and why it was formed. The children looked at a world map of all the places that were part of the British Empire and then went on to research the events that led the Empire to grow and then finally end. The children were also introduced to their artist of the term ‘William Morris’ and the media that he works with. The children compiled a research page on William Morris and a comparison of his work and other artists’.
To begin their second line of inquiry, ‘How leaders guide societies’ the children became historians and demonstrated their knowledge and understanding by constructing a diary entry from Queen Victoria’s perspective. In their diary entry, the children really demonstrated their knowledge of their inquiry and new vocabulary they had learnt along the way. The children then went on to build links within their learning and wrote a non-chronological report answering the question ‘How has Victorian Britain had a major influence on world history?’. The children also used their DT, Science and electrician skills in order to create a Christmas tree with a working circuit, which was inspired by the fact Queen Victoria’s husband made these well known in the United Kingdom during her reign. Finally, the children also created their own digital prints in the style of William Morris using their Computing skills!
For our final line of inquiry, the children investigated: ‘How decisions transform lives’. The children became Charity workers and designed their own campaign for the charity Barnardos. Throughout this, they looked into how Queen Victoria was a patron for the charity. The children then created a logo as well as a poem as a way to advertise help for the impoverished in the Victorian era. In addition to this, the children were extremely caring and sold their own Christmas decorations they had made at the Key Stage Two Christmas performances and all donations were made to Barnardo’s Charity to help children who unfortunately do not have a home or are less fortunate. The children were really enthusiastic about this and really showed they are determined to change the world!