Topic

History - Vikings

This vivid topic follows the study of the  Viking presence in Britain and their attempts at conquest of Saxon Britain. 

Key Questions that will be explored:

❶What image do we have of the Vikings?(establishes pupils’ prior knowledge, releases adjectives, sets Vikings in context of time and place.

❷Why have the Vikings gained such a bad reputation?(Blends interesting narrative of the raids with awareness of the partial nature of evidence used in the past.

❸How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get? (covers concept of change through time and exploresVikings’ changing fortunes, whilst revisiting earlier work on Alfred and Saxons).

❹How have recent excavations changed our view of the Vikings? (Focus on Jorvik) Pupils explore for themselves a range of primary and some secondary sources to see if they explain why attitudes have changed.

❺What can we learn about Viking settlement from a study of place name endings? (Strong links with geography 2014 curriculum)

❻Raiders or settlers: how should we remember the Vikings?(Major focus is on interpretations, both describing contrasting views and suggest        reasons for the differences: good citizenship work on diversity and need to avoid stereotyping)

* Pupil-initiated home study (allows choice, promotes  creativity and independence but within parameters including writing for audience) Children can create PowerPoints and information pages to show their learning from their home study.