The Great Fire

Outstanding KS1 lessons the Great Fire of London

New version now live.
Our exciting brand-new outstanding Medium term planner on the Great Fire of London comes with a clear rationale and 6 enquiry-led fully resourced lessons.

The new approach looks at a very familiar topic in a completely new way, including three completely new enquiries which set it apart from the plethora of worksheets that have flooded the market. In particular, the opening session is heavily investigative and sets the tone for pupils working at history detectives throughout. Two new enquiries, which form key questions 4 and 5, look at the human impact of the event, an aspect often ignored.

The Great Fire – KQ1 – How can we work out why the Great Fire started? New enquiry

This innovative session places pupils right from the start of the enquiry in the role of detectives to discover when, where and why the Great Fire of London broke out. Using a wide range of carefully chosen images, pupils have to sift through the evidence...

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The Great Fire – KQ2 – What happened during the Great Fire and how do we know?

This lesson focuses on the idea of evidence and proof. Can pupils find evidence to back up statements made in books? Can they tell which is the strongest piece of evidence to support a statement? By learning how to select the sources which they think...

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The Great Fire – KQ3 – Why did the Great Fire burn down so many houses?

This Great Fire lesson focuses on developing children's powers of explanations.  They will already have looked at the sequence of events and will be able to offer a few simple reasons.  This lesson aims to take them beyond a simple list towards deeper understanding of...

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The Great Fire – KQ4 – Could more have been done to slow the spread of the fire?

This session comprises three distinct phases. The first is mime-based, looking at the firefighting methods used and discussing their disadvantages. The second looks at what action was taken to stop the fire spreading and the third at the issue of at culpability for not doing...

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The Great Fire – KQ5 – How did people manage to live through the Great Fire?

Miraculously for a city that was the third largest in the world, consumed by a fire that lasted for days, very few people died, as far as we know. There is some real doubt as to whether there really were so few, suggesting that it...

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The Great Fire – KQ6 – How shall we rebuild London after the Great Fire?

This lesson gives full rein to children's creative flair, disciplined by evidence.  The City of London is offering a prize for the best design for a rebuilt London after the Great Fire.   If the children know the causes well, and they should do after using...

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The Great Fire – KQ2 – What happened during the Great Fire and how do we know?

This lesson focuses on the idea of evidence and proof. Can pupils find evidence to back up statements made in books? Can they tell which is the strongest piece of evidence to support a statement. By learning how to select the sources which they think...

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Help Tom to fight the Great Fire. Smart Task

This ICT based activity draws heavily on the superb new website created as a joint enterprise by the National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, Museum of London and London Fire Brigade Museum. It appears on the Learning Curve section of the National Archives site. The interactive...

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KS1 Star Lesson on The Great Fire

Why did the Great Fire of 1666 burn down so many more houses than other fires in London at that time?

In this exceptional lesson, pupils adopt the role of providers of a new plaque for a monument explaining why the Great Fire of 1666 burnt...

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6 top history ideas to cover in your Great Fire topic

Many of you will be starting your Great Fire topic this term. Naturally you will want this to be exciting as well as challenging and you will want to focus on the main historical concepts: in this case, cause and consequence and change. But you might...

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Keeping up-to-date with your teaching of the Great Fire at KS1

If you get the chance, between the end of term and April, to visit the Museum of London’s exhibition Fire! Fire! don’t hesitate.  There are some extraordinary exhibits and it offers a really interesting opportunity to bring your teaching of this popular topic...

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What’s in the bag and who does it belong to? Great Fire Smart Task

An object-based problem-solving approach to learning about life during the Great Fire

This Smart Task is just part of a lesson and uses the power of concealed objects to fire children’s curiosity. Pupils work to help archaeologists establish the likely owner of the mystery...

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KS1 | Great Fire interactive resource

Just thought I'd bring to the attention of those who haven't yet seen it the interesting resource put together by the Museum of London and other agencies a year or so ago. You can find it here Read more

Using De Bono’s Thinking Hats to develop thinking skills at Key Stage 1 via the topic the Great Fire of London. Smart Task

Two infant teachers from southern Hampshire, Julie Syms from Crofton Hammond Infants and Nicola Beazley from Sarisbury Green Infants, have created a composite description of their experience of using de Bono’s Thinking Hats. The article in the resources section at the side focuses mainly on...

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Great Fire Smart Task .What’s going on in our mystery picture?

This simple starter activity uses a large, coloured, artist’s reconstruction of Pepys burying his possessions when he knows it is time to finally flee his home. Children will be familiar with the story though it will deliberately not have been looked at in detail so...

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