Teaching Mary Seacole to Key Stage 1

In the past we have taught Florence and Mary Seacole together with perhaps too little emphasis on Mary. To restore the balance and to focus more on diversity, we have created a separate topic on Mary, with her own set of key enquiry questions. The study culminates in a comparison of who better deserves a statue outside St.Thomas
Hospital.
As well as dignifying the role of black females in the past, and taking them out of the shadows of history, this topic offers excellent opportunities to explore the changing attitudes to race, then and now.
Central to the topic is a focus on interpretations. Even young children should be able to enter the debate about Mary’s significance. How should we best remember her?