Mary Seacole

#TheCompleteSeries7lessons

After creating factfiles on Mary Seacole, your KS1 class will use their understanding of chronological order to create a timeline of Mary Seacole's life. They will reflect on how her early experiences of helping to run a boarding house in Kingston led to her later achievements in nursing. They will then look at how her life was blighted by racist incidents and will write passionately in role as her to show how the racist comments she experienced made her feel. In the following lesson, children will learn all about how she became well-loved in her hometown of Kingston when she helped treat patients suffering from cholera in 1851. They will learn all about her herbal remedies and how these compare to modern treatments for cholera. Your KS1 class will then go on to look at how her experience of treating this deadly disease led to her applying to join Florence Nightingale in her hospital in Scutari. Children will learn how, despite her help being refused, Seacole travelled to Crimea with her friend Thomas Day and set up the 'British Hotel'. They will write in role as her to explore her inner thoughts and feelings in travelling and arriving in the Crimea and will create persuasive adverts to encourage soldiers to visit the British Hotel. The final lesson focuses on how she returned to Britain as a poor woman and what happened to her in the final years of her life. Children will design a banknote to remember her life and achievements and will reflect on this incredible black woman who did amazing things in her lifetime.

Every lesson in this Mary Seacole KS1 History Planning Pack comes complete with an engaging slideshow packed full of information and which encourages discussion, promotes thinking and has built-in opportunities to revisit prior learning. There are seven detailed lesson plans with differentiated activities, all written by an experienced teacher. What's more, every lesson comes with a pack of high-quality printable resources to enable you to make every lesson about this incredible woman a success in your classroom.

Looking for more resources featuring inspiring black women? Then use this Ruby Bridges lesson to introduce your KS1 class to the amazingly brave six-year-old little girl, who paved the way for the desegregation of schools in 1960s America.

#Lesson1WhowasMarySeacole

In this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson, children will learn all about Mary Seacole’s life. They will find out that she was born and grew up in Kingston to a Jamaican nurse and a Scottish soldier.

Children will learn about how her early experiences inspired a lifelong love of nursing and how her medical skills helped her treat patients in Kingston’s cholera epidemic. They will explore how, despite her help being refused by the War Office in London, she made her way to Crimea to help sick and injured soldiers and where she affectionately became known as ‘Mother Seacole’. Children will create fact files of Mary Seacole’s life using a detailed information text about her or will alternatively work in groups to find out about her.

Everything you need to teach this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson is included in the pack. There is a detailed slideshow packed full of information about Mary Seacole, a lesson plan written by an experienced teacher with differentiated activities and all the printable resources required.

#Lesson2AtimelineofMarySeacoleslife

In this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson complete with all the resources needed, a fun game of True or False is used to help children recall learning about Mary Seacole from the previous lesson.

Understanding chronological order is the focus of the learning in this Timeline KS1 lesson. Children will practise putting events from Mary Seacole’s life in chronological order on a timeline. Children will then be tasked to order a set of event cards chronologically to create a timeline of the main events from Mary Seacole’s life. Alternatively, children will use drama to create a visual timeline of her life.

This Mary Seacole KS1 lesson pack contains an engaging slideshow, a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities and all the high-quality printable resources required to make this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson a success.

#Lesson3MarySeacoleandherexperienceofracism

In this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson, children will begin by discussing what they understand by the term racism.

After establishing that it is the unfair treatment of someone because of their skin colour or background, children will learn how Mary Seacole experienced racism on many occasions throughout her lifetime. Children will be encouraged to empathise with how Mary Seacole may have felt when she was the subject of racist abuse. They will write in role as Mary Seacole in reply to a speech by an American gentleman in which several racist comments were made. Alternatively, children will create a SAY NO TO RACISM poster.

Everything you need to teach this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson is included in the pack. There is an engaging slideshow, a lesson plan written by an experienced teacher with differentiated activities and all the printable resources required.

#Lesson4MarySeacoleandcholera

In this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson, children will find out what cholera is and how an outbreak of this deadly disease killed many people in Kingston in 1851. Children will learn how Mary Seacole became famous for helping treat patients suffering from cholera and the remedies which she used including mustard plasters and mercury chloride.

Children will create a guide in role as Seacole to help other nurses spot the symptoms and treat patients with the disease. Alternatively, children will compare how Seacole treated cholera to how the disease is treated today. At the end of the lesson, children will learn how cholera is still a problem in many areas of the world and will reflect on what Seacole would do were she still alive today.

This Mary Seacole KS1 lesson pack contains an engaging slideshow, a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities and all the high-quality printable resources required to make this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson a success.

#Lesson5MarySeacoleandherjourneytoCrimea

In this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson, children will watch a video that teaches them how, when discovering British soldiers in Crimea were becoming ill with cholera, Mary Seacole travelled to the War Office in London to ask if she could join Florence Nightingale in Scutari.

Children will use drama to explore how she felt when her help was refused by both the War Office and then the Crimean Fund. Children will then explore how she used her wealth to buy tickets aboard the Hollander with her friend, Thomas Day, and made her own way to Crimea. They will produce a diary in role as Seacole to show her thoughts and feelings in the different stages of her journey to Crimea.

Everything you need to teach this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson is included in the pack. There is an interactive slideshow, a lesson plan written by an experienced teacher with differentiated activities and all the printable resources required.

#Lesson6HowdidMarySeacolehelpintheCrimeanWar

In this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson, children will learn the conditions Seacole discovered when she finally arrived in Crimea. They will find out why she became affectionately known as ‘Mother Seacole’ and how she set up the British Hotel.

They will create a persuasive advert that encourages soldiers to visit the British Hotel, in role as Mary Seacole. Alternatively, children will write in role as an injured soldier rescued from the battlefield by Seacole. They will write a postcard home detailing their experience. At the end of the lesson, children will look at the achievements of both Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

This Mary Seacole KS1 lesson pack contains an engaging slideshow, a detailed lesson plan with differentiated activities and all the high-quality printable resources required to make this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson a success.

#Lesson7RememberingandcelebratingMarySeacolesachievements

In this final Mary Seacole KS1 lesson, children will look at how Mary Seacole returned to England as a poor woman since she was unable to find a buyer for the British Hotel. They will look at how a fundraising event raised money for her, but after she died, Seacole became lost to history for over 100 years.

Children will find out how a group of Caribbean nurses helped reignite interest in her story and how a statue was built to commemorate her life in 2016. The fact that there has never been a black person on a British banknote will be used to inspire children to design a new banknote that honours Mary Seacole’s memory. At the end of the lesson, children will reflect on what they have learnt in this unit about Mary Seacole.

Everything you need to teach this Mary Seacole KS1 lesson is included in the pack. There is an engaging slideshow to help inspire your class, a lesson plan written by an experienced teacher with differentiated activities and all the printable resources required.

#KnowledgeOrganiserMarySeacole

This Year 2 History Knowledge Organiser has been created to complement our History Significant Individuals strand. It is designed to support your children’s understanding of key vocabulary linked to this scheme of work. Enquiry questions have been included to encourage your children to think deeply about this topic.

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

Download a free overview to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Free Assessment Grid

Download a free assessment grid to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Curriculum Objectives covered

• the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods