Retelling a Windrush story
I can tell the story of one fictional person's experience on the Empire Windrush and on arrival in Britain.
Retelling a Windrush story
I can tell the story of one fictional person's experience on the Empire Windrush and on arrival in Britain.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Caribbean immigrants were drawn to the UK by the promise of better pay and living conditions.
- The Windrush arrivals were given some support by the British government, but they faced discrimination.
- It could be hard to find housing and many could only find jobs at a lower level than they were qualified for.
- The weather and appearance of Britain was also a shock to some of the Windrush immigrants.
- 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.
To help you plan your year 6 english lesson on: Retelling a Windrush story, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 6 english lesson on: Retelling a Windrush story, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 english lessons from the The Empire Windrush: diary writing unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended