Resource created by: Leeds Library and Information Service.
Curriculum Links
- KS2 History: Changes in an aspect of social history, such as crime and punishment.
Aims of resource
Learning Objectives
Discussion Ideas
- What do you think it was like to live in Leeds in the past?
- In what ways do you think life in Leeds improved from the 17th Century onwards?
- How do you think rich and poor people in Leeds felt about living so near each other?
- Why do you think rich and poor people enjoyed different leisure activities?
- How did people try to solve the problem of poverty in Leeds?
- Why might people have been forced to go into the workhouse?
- What do you think it would be like to live in a workhouse?
- How do people try to fight poverty in the UK today?
- What do you think life was like before free medical care?
- What would your life be like if you couldn't afford to go to the doctor?
- How might life have been different for women in the past?
- There were a lot of changes to ordinary people's lives in the early 20th Century. Which do you think were the most important and why?
Activity Ideas
- Creative writing/interpreting historical documents:
Use the 1881 Census list of Leeds Union Workhouse residents (see link below) as inspiration for creative writing. After discussing the document as a class, pupils can choose a particular inmate or family and interpret the 'clues' given in the document to build a character.
- How old are they?
- Do they have any relations in the workhouse?
- Where did they come from?
- Why might they have left their home?
- What job did they do before coming to the workhouse?
- Do you think
Fleshed out with further research, they can use this information to write a short story (or an alternative creative response) about how the person came to the workhouse, and what their earlier life might have been like. - Class debate:
Divide the class into four groups. They are 'rich', 'middle class', 'working class' and 'pauper' citizens of Leeds. Using a large sheet of paper divided into 6 boxes, each group writes down six points about how their lives changed for the better from the 17th to the 20th Century. Each point must be backed up with a piece of factual evidence.
- The group then swaps sheets with another group who use sticky notes to respond to what the other group has written and find evidence to contradict their points.
- Each sheet is then held up in front of the class, who vote collectively for which group's evidence is stronger and find a ‘winner’. - Online Research:
Children can independently explore the images on the Leodis website (see link below) of historic Leeds, perhaps searching on a theme or researching a particular area of the city.