New
New
Year 6

Retelling a Windrush story

I can tell the story of one fictional person's experience on the Empire Windrush and on arrival in Britain.

New
New
Year 6

Retelling a Windrush story

I can tell the story of one fictional person's experience on the Empire Windrush and on arrival in Britain.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Caribbean immigrants were drawn to the UK by the promise of better pay and living conditions.
  2. The Windrush arrivals were given some support by the British government, but they faced discrimination.
  3. It could be hard to find housing and many could only find jobs at a lower level than they were qualified for.
  4. The weather and appearance of Britain was also a shock to some of the Windrush immigrants.
  5. Nevertheless, many stayed in Britain and their descendants live here to this day.

Keywords

  • Immigrant - someone who has come to a country different to their country of origin to live permanently

  • Windrush Generation - the name given to people who emigrated from the West Indies to the UK in the decades after World War II, starting with the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948

  • Text map - a visual representation of a series of events, where pictures represent events; it can be used to orally rehearse events to embed them in our memory

Common misconception

Pupils may believe they are expected to say their text map the same each time they repeat it.

The purpose of the text map is to remember the events; ideally, pupils would have repeated opportunities to rehearse the text map, trying out different language each time. You will find pupils readily copy language you used in your own retelling.

You may want to model constructing the text map with the class to ensure that pupils focus on events and not on making detailed drawings. You may also want to give children additional time to rehearse the text map, or you could pair pupils together to tell it in pairs.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Roughly how many people were ruled by the British Empire at its height?
80 million
400,000
Correct answer: 400 million
4 billion
Q2.
Which of the following were British colonies?
the United Kingdom
Correct answer: Jamaica
Correct answer: Nigeria
Correct answer: India
Q3.
Why had the UK population fallen after the Second World War?
Correct answer: many people had been killed in the war
Correct answer: many people chose to emigrate to colonies
there was lots of immigration
Q4.
How was the UK seen by many Caribbean people at the end of the Second World War?
Correct answer: the 'mother country'
the occupying power
the place their ancestors had come from
Q5.
Which of the following did the government do to help Windrush immigrants?
Correct answer: provided accommodation in an underground air-raid shelter
gave them houses
Correct answer: gave free transport to anywhere in country they found a job
Correct answer: set up a job centre to help them find work
Q6.
Where did many immigrants of the Windrush Generation find work?
in churches
Correct answer: in public services like the NHS, public transport and the postal service
in the police service
on farms

6 Questions

Q1.
Where did Celia sail from?
London, UK
Bermuda
Correct answer: Kingston, Jamaica
Q2.
How much did a ticket on the Empire Windrush cost?
£280
Correct answer: £28
£2,800
£2.80
Q3.
What did Celia's family do to raise money for the ticket?
sell their house
work harder
Correct answer: sell animals
sell jewellery
Q4.
Which option best describes Celia's mother's reaction to the Windrush ticket sale?
Correct answer: She was determined that Celia should go.
She was determined that Celia should stay.
She was furious that Celia wanted to leave Jamaica.
She was concerned about Celia wanting to leave Jamaica.
Q5.
Why could Celia not find a place to live when she arrived?
She was rude to people.
Correct answer: People discriminated against her.
She didn't bother looking because she could sleep in the shelter.
Q6.
Which of the following was a worry for Celia about arriving in the UK?
She would not like the food.
Correct answer: She might not be able to teach.
She would miss the Windrush.
She would miss the sea.

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