This week, Year 2 have been busy stepping back in time to 1666! The children thoroughly enjoyed re-enacting the key events of the Great Fire of London. They brought history to life by imagining what it must have been like when the flames spread across the city and destroyed thousands of homes.
We also learned about the deadly plague that struck London just before the fire. This helped us understand just how difficult life was at that time. Year 2 explored artefacts to see how technology has changed over the past 359 years, which sparked (excuse the pun!) lots of thoughtful conversations about what it would have been like to live in the past.
An interesting discovery we made was that, although only six deaths were officially recorded, many poorer people’s deaths were not written down. This led to brilliant questions about how history sometimes cannot give us all the answers we would like.
We were also introduced to Samuel Pepys, who kept a diary during the fire. His writing has given historians a first-hand account of what happened and we are excited to learn more about this fascinating primary source in next week’s lessons!
