Making primary history fun & challenging

‘Big questions’ Flashpoints Rich sources Free resources

Ireland in Schools (IiS) is a Who needs Florence Nightingale? http://journals.aol.co.uk/iis04/GraceOMalley

national network of volunteers

which provides free teaching ‘Upset when her father refused to take her on
and learning resources for
a [sea] trip because she was a girl, the story
primary and secondary schools
in Britain. goes that Grace cut off her hair and donned
male clothes.’
Granuaile by M. Moriarty & C. Sweeney
The aim is to make Ireland a
O’Brien Press, 0-86278-62-0, p. 15
part of the normal curriculum in
Britain, from primary schools to
sixth-forms, by making it easy
for teachers to draw upon
Ireland in their teaching.

Originally intended to underpin

the peace process, the
programme has taken on an
educational life of its own by
• addressing key curriculum
issues
• enriching the teaching and Year 1 Year 2
learning experience for Look at the picture above of the Freeze frame or hot seat the picture above
teachers and pupils alike shorthaired Granuaile with her of the shorthaired Granuaile with her
and mother, brother and father in the mother, brother and father in the
• making learning fun as well background. background.
as challenging. Describe the events using speech Focus on how differently males and
bubbles to explain emotions. females are expected to act.
The free IiS resources are
developed by teachers to 1. Look at the picture above and the list of phrases below.
• reflect the realities of the Which phrases do you think apply to Granuaile and which to Elizabeth I?
curriculum and the linen saffron smock gown richly embroidered lace handkerchief
classroom and weather-beaten face large woollen sleeveless cloak chalk-like face
• provide models of best sober dress ornamental style.
(Year 2: Suggest a reason why the two women would be dressed in clothing that was so different.)
practice.
2. Do you remember the reasons why Granuaile met Elizabeth I?
Download free resources for Can you imagine what they said to each other?
primary history at: Use Drama conventions to reconstruct the picture above, then try to reconstruct
the conversation between the two women, e.g., ‘Still image’ and ‘Thought
http://iisresource.org/resources_
tapping’. Or Use hand puppets to act out the imagined conversation.
ph.aspx
St Brendan the Navigator
Brian Boru, Alfred the Great &
the Vikings
Book of Kells
Grace O’Malley & Elizabeth I
Irish Famine
Evacuees & refugees

Website: ‘GRANA UILE [sic] introduced to

http://iisresource.org
Contact:
iisresources@yahoo.co.uk
QUEEN ELIZABETH’
Frontispiece to Anthologia Hibernica
Vol. II, 1793
There is no contemporary account of this
meeting which took place in 1593.
Venn diagram creates a quandary
Bravery or fidelity? http://members.aol.com/iis05/A_B_Study_Unit_A4_01.pdf

This Venn diagram, asking them to

compare Alfred the Great and Brian
Boru, put Year 3 and Year 4 pupils
in a quandary.

Their task
Their task was to decide which king
was the more worthy of having a
saga composed about them.

Their choice
Their choice of Brian Boru caused
more than a little concern.

He was the more heroically

swashbuckling, but they liked Alfred
better. Alfred was, they concluded,
more trustworthy than Brian.

Study unit - 5 lessons

If you were a Viking, whose story would you choose to tell: Alfred the Great’s or Brian Boru’s?

Book of Kells
Not just pretty pictures? http://iisresource.org/resources_ph.aspx

Decoration
Pictures and decorative lettering
helped people to understand the text.

It made the deep meanings of the

gospel clear by using lively pictures that were not easily
forgotten.

The letter N
Here is the capital letter N, standing
for ‘no man’ (nemo in Latin).

It begins the well-known sentence:

‘No man can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and
love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other’.

Purpose?See below for suggestions

Does the way the letter is formed
give a clue as to the words of Jesus
which need to be thought about?

to be thought about. Nothing seems to be going right between them.

other’s beards! This little picture of the two men struggling gives us the clue to the words of Jesus which need
outline of the capital N. They face each other. They are not at all friendly. In fact they are tugging at each
The capital letter N is shaped out of two little men. Their bodies and legs are twisted and turned to make the
St Brendan the Navigator
Just a tall tale? http://iisresource.org/resources_ph.aspx

What was St Brendan’s voyage like?

Learning objectives
• To reflect on the feelings of St Brendan.
• To express feelings through music.
• To be aware that beliefs can be expressed in different
forms.
Plenary
Imagine that you could go back in time and meet St
Brendan. What questions would the children like to ask
him? As well as simple details encourage questions on
feelings and reasons for his actions. Teacher in the role
of St Brendan then takes the hot seat and answers
questions from the children, giving as much detail as
possible about him. A role on the wall of Brendan should
then be created, gathering all the information learned
about him together. (A simple outline of a person is
drawn and details written around the outside. Feelings
are written inside the outline).

Famine
Re-enacting the ejectment of Irish tenantry, 1848 http://journals.aol.co.uk/iis04/Famine

1. Working in groups 2. Judging everyone’s 3. Asking questions

Look at the picture. freeze-frame Make a list of the questions which
You have to become the main Give it a mark from 1 you need in order to understand the
people in the picture. (not like the picture) - importance of the scene in the
Freeze frame. 5 (exactly like the picture). picture.
Children in the Second World War: fact & fiction http://journals.aol.co.uk/kha200/Usinghistoricalfiction/entries/785

From Examining & Writing Historical Fiction: 1. Evacuees - London to Co. Wicklow, Éire
Leaving London: Sophie and Hugh - evacuees at the railway station) Lesson 3: Extract C
Again, like real children, Sophie and Hugh left London by train. (pp 47-9)

They had a small battered red case and a pillowcase tied with a piece of white string.
Aunt Jessie had gone to their house and persuaded Mr. Thompson, the street warden to
get them a few things. Some clothes, the photo of Dad in his uniform taken the day
before he went away, an extra pair of shoes for Sophie. They each had a cardboard box
holding their gas mask hanging across their chest, and Mrs Stokes made them both put
on their coats, as it was easier than carrying them. She took out a string and label and
wrote Hugh’s name and destination and where he was coming from, and attached it to
the toggle of his coat. She took one look at Sophie’s face and guessed, correctly, that the
twelve year old would object loudly to being labelled like a paper package and shoved
the card and string back into her pocket....
There was crying and shouting and wailing and fighting as kids clung to parents and
babies bawled. Some people were putting their children on the train and then, a few
minutes later, lifting them off again, unable to let them go. The lists were going to be all
muddled up at this rate, thought Sophie....
Sophie closed her eyes, blocking it all out, singing so softly to herself that only Hugh
could hear.

1. Look at the pictures.

If you had to leave home by yourself, which picture would best show how you
would feel?
2. Which picture best matches the extract?
3. Enact a five-minute drama based on the extract.
4. Write up your drama as a story, using the extract as a model.
Arriving in Ireland
Unlike most evacuees, who were met by strangers, Sophie and Hugh were met by their grandfather, a stern man.
Sophie watched as families were reunited. They hugged and kissed and talked animatedly to each
other. Some solitary figures stood, holding their cases, looking forlorn. The school-boys were met by
a plump woman in a fur coat who hugged and kissed them all, much to their embarrassment....
People were everywhere, standing, sitting, watching, waiting. Sophie hoped that their grandfather
was amongst them. Mr Cox [the ship’s steward who looked after Hugh and Sophie on the voyage]
chatted away to them, all the time with his eyes scouring the crowd. At one stage, he left them and
approached a balding, jolly-looking gentleman who seemed to be asking one of the ship’s officers
something. He seemed friendly, just as Sophie imagined a grandfather should be. But she could see
him shake his head.
‘Where is he?’ complained Hugh, voicing her own concerns. ‘He’s probably forgotten and won’t
bother coming to get us’....
Then she noticed the tall man sitting on one of the wooden benches reading a newspaper. As if
he knew she had spotted him, he folded the paper and began to stand up. He had a grey beard and a
broad face, which even at a distance reminded her of her own father. He was wearing a blue-green
tweed suit and a white shirt, and as soon as he walked she couldn’t help but notice his pronounced
limp, and the gnarled dark wooden stick he used....
‘Excuse me, Sir! Are you, by any chance, Professor Fitzpatrick?’ Mr Cox enquired.
The old man looked sternly at them. ‘Yes! Indeed I am! And these two must be my grandchildren,
Sophie and Hugh!’ He gave a kind of low, formal bow, and instead of hugging them shook their hands
politely.
Sophie wilted from his stare - the striking pale, blue eyes under the grey hairy eyebrows gazed at
her.
1. Underline in different colours the words which show good, bad and mixed feelings.
2. a. Examine the sources D1, D2, D3 and D4 which show what happened to other
evacuees on arrival at their destinations.
b Read the following statements and match them to the sources.
i. I was excited when given sweets and met by my grandparents but then I
wanted to go home.
ii. I stayed with a rich woman.
iii. Everything went wrong. I was split up from my brother.
iv. We were disappointed with the woman who met us.
v. We were treated like cattle.
vi. I felt rejected by the village.
c. Which of the sources best matches Sophie’s feelings? Give reasons for your
answer.
3. If you wanted to write a story about an evacuee, which of these evacuees would you use as
a starting point, and why?
4. Use the experience of this evacuee and any other sources used in the previous lesson to help
you write your own imaginative story.
Lesson 4: Extract D
(pp 68-9)
Source D1: Vernon Bell’s story
The assembled villagers [of Bradninch, near Exeter, Devon] eyed us up like calves on market
day, made their selection and departed. I became aware that I was the only one left and no
takers!
I learned later that I was saved by the insistence of my host family’s three children that the
parents should go along to see the most exciting thing to happen in the village since the
Coronation Party.
There was no way could this family take another child into their three room farm cottage their
children were told, and being as poor as the proverbial church mice to boot. They turned up just
as I dissolved into tears at my rejection by the village. ‘We had better take this un home with
us,’ they said.
Source D2: Michael Caine’s story
I don’t remember the train ride but I do remember being led into a great big village hall and
my brother and I being picked by this wonderful woman who whisked us away in this big car,
probably a Rolls, to this great mansion with dogs and cats and it was lovely….Mrs. Warner was
her name….and we were there for two weeks, my brother and I.
Unfortunately, it turned out we were too far from the school so we had to leave the house. I
mean, I thought, boy, am I in for a great time here, and they took us away and they took us to
another part of the village. That was Wargrave in Berkshire. They were semi-detached houses
on the edge of the park. They didn’t look too bad but they split my brother and me up because
of our age difference and put me with another boy who was six called Clarence. And we were
out into this house and I was immediately aware that everything had gone wrong. I mean it was
dreadful…
Source D3: Laura Selo’s story
We left [Prague] in June 1939. I shall never forget the day when we arrived at drab Liverpool
Street Station, tired and slightly bedraggled. A lady dressed rather shabbily in old-fashioned
clothes came towards us and into my hands she put a card on which the words ‘Mother Love’
were written.... [we] were rather bewildered and, quite frankly, disappointed ...
Source D4: Edith Rothschild’s story
We were then on the train to London and I only remember the porters at the station throwing
sweets into the train for the children and then we left. Next I was sitting in a huge hall full of
children and sipping some water.
Then my name was called. My grandparents who were already in London, came to see me at
the station, keeping a promise that they would do so. I was so happy to see them but was just
not allowed to stay with them for very long.
I had to continue my journey to Cambridge, where I was to live with an English family. By
now the excitement of the journey had worn off and I wanted to go home.