Teaching Mary Seacole at KS1
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 teaching Mary Seacole, 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?
Mary Seacole – Assessment task – Assessing pupils’ understanding of the work of Mary Seacole
Target concepts: characteristic features of the period and significance This task is designed to elicit pupils’ understanding of the contribution…
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Mary Seacole knowledge organiser – KS1
Mary was a remarkable lady best remembered for her work during the Crimean war (1853-1856) where she helped injured soldiers,…
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Mary Seacole – KQ1 – How can we work out why Mary Seacole is famous?
This session focuses on working out WHY Mary Seacole is commemorated today 200 years after she was born, and looks…
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Mary Seacole – KQ2 – What were the most important events in Mary’s life?
Pupils watch a short film to establish the outlines of the story and then have to sequence a differentiated set…
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Mary Seacole – KQ3 – What was Mary’s greatest achievement and how do we know?
The focus here is mainly on the evidence for Mary’s achievement. This is important as she was a more-or-less forgotten…
Read MoreMary Seacole – KQ4 – How did life change for Mary after the Crimean war?
Pupils create a fortunes graph showing the highs and lows of Mary’s life after the Crimea, identify a key turning…
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Mary Seacole – KQ5 – What made Mary so special?
A short session aimed at generating adjectives to capture the special qualities that Mary had and to provide examples of…
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Mary Seacole – KQ6 – Why doesn’t everyone agree that Mary deserves her statue at St. Thomas’ hospital?
This lesson places pupils in the role of Mantle of the Expert. A new monument to Mary Seacole was erected…
Read MoreWhat the latest biography of Mary Seacole tells us
In Helen Rappaport’s latest book “In Search of Mary Seacole: Making of a cultural icon”, we are told how Mary’s…
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Smart task Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole: Who said it? / Who am I?
This simple task encourages children to spot the differences between Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. With a large A4 image…
Read MoreAre you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach
Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach: 1….
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Mary Seacole – How should we remember her?
This lesson is the second featuring Mary Seacole. In the first her role was compared with Florence Nightingale’s. The focus…
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