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History

Subject Lead: Mrs A Bowden

History Curriculum 2023-2024

Exploring History at The Ryde School

Year 2 – Pirate Day

In Year 2 we have been learning about the life of pirates. We spent the day with a real pirate captain learning about how pirates would communicate with flags and what pirates considered to be treasure; it was not really gold they were after! Herbs and spices were much more valuable to pirates. Being a pirate was a hard job with lots of work to be done cleaning and looking after the ship. Did you know pirates had a strict bed time of 8pm?

We also learnt pirate sea shanties and were able to make eye patches and flags. Everyone had a go at making dice to play pirate games, some of us were scallywags and made trick dice to help us win, but no gambling was allowed on board the ship.

Year 3 – Stone Age Houses

When learning about the Stone Age, the children looked at how people would have lived during this time. They learnt that during the Palaeolithic period humans would live inside caves. During the Mesolithic times humans used wooden pools and animal skin to create tepee tents and in the Neolithic period Stone Age houses were rectangular and made from timber or built into mounds using stone, like the ones uncovered at Skara Brae. The children learnt about what archaeologists have found to help them work out what the houses would have been like. They then went outside and, using what they had learnt, created their own Stone Age houses using only the materials people would have had at the time.

Year 4 – Trip to Verulamium

In Year 4, the children have been learning about how the Romans lived. To consolidate this learning the children visited Verulamium in St Albans. The children were able to see a mosaic floor that had been discovered almost intact, which gave them a real insight into how some Roman buildings may have looked and the skill it would have taken to make this.

The children also learnt about the everyday lives of the Romans. They had learnt about different trades the people worked at and were able to see examples of tools that were used

Year 5 – Trip to IWM Duxford

In Year 5, the children have been learning about the changes at the start of World War 2, evacuation and rationing. To consolidate their learning, they recently visited the Imperial War Museum Duxford. The children started by visiting the Land Warfare exhibition where they saw tanks and military vehicles and discovered how fighting on land has changed since World War 1. From here, they explored the AirSpace hanger where they saw the Mosquito plane that was created at the DeHavilland factory in Hatfield. After lunch the children took part in a documentary challenge workshop. They were given cameras and tasked with making a mini documentary on the people and objects they feel the world needs to know about. This helped to develop their historical inquiry skills and deepen their understanding of the impact of war on people’s lives in the past.

Year 6 – A visit from Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh

Recently Year 6 has been visited by Sir Walter Raleigh and the great Queen Elizabeth I. Year 6 talked about the great reign of her majesty and the maps they used in Tudor times. In the maps there were things called the northwest passage. The passage was a secret way that would lead you to gold. Sophia pretended to be a ship and Sir Walter Raleigh was the wind and pushed her in different directions, this was how the wind affected the people’s travels to find gold.  After that Aayush and Phoebe held the doors open for the majestic Queen to enter. The Queen sat down on an interestingly shaped chair and Class 6 bowed down to her to show respect. She tested their loyalty by making us say “Vivat Regina”, then we experienced what it would feel like if the Queen visited another country.  Some students went up and did some acting with the Queen, one of the children was the mayor and the mayor’s assistant who gave the Queen a present but with 1p in the purse she was very disappointed, but it had all of the love of the people of Hatfield. To end the session off, Year 6 did a little dance to show respect to the Queen. The Queen and Sir Walter Raleigh exited the hall and Year 6 waved goodbye. Overall, the experience was very fun and the children enjoyed and learnt a lot.