History at key stages 1 and 2 (Year 5/6)

Unit 11: What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain?
Section 3: Who helped to improve the lives of Victorian children?

Objectives

Children should learn:

to understand that the work of individuals can change aspects of society
to find out about important figures in Victorian times
to present their findings in different ways

Activities

Outcomes

Children:

Ask the children what they think needed to be done for Victorian children.

Talk about Lord Shaftesbury and Dr Barnardo and how they helped children, placing key events on the time line. Ask the children to find out about the work of these men, and the way that they changed some children's lives using a variety of written sources and pictures.

Ask the children to present their work using freeze-frames, brief role-plays, cartoons, extended writing or oral and visual presentations.

answer questions about who helped to improve children's lives and how
select appropriate information and present it, to show what they have found out about Lord Shaftesbury and Dr Barnardo

Points to note

Lord Shaftesbury and Dr Barnardo are included as examples of a politician and a private individual who both attempted to improve children's lives. The amount of political detail included with Shaftesbury will vary according to the maturity and interest of the children, but if possible mention should be made of Acts of Parliament and laws. A pack from Barnado's has useful photographs.

Texts chosen to explore the lives of Shaftesbury and Barnardo could be considered as part of work in reading, focusing on biography and autobiography. Such reading should encourage children to consider statements as fact and opinion and to be sensitive to stated and implied points of view in a text.

Sections in this unit

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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.


	1. Who were the Victorians and when did they live?
	2. What was life like for a poor child in the 1840s?
	3. Who helped to improve the lives of Victorian children?
	4. What was it like going to school at the end of the nineteenth century?
	5. How did different Victorian children use their spare time?
	6. How did life change for children living in Victorian Britain?