Session 1

Aim: Pre-assessment task to find out what the children already know and to allow them to influence the learning activities. Children will plan and lead an assembly and link with dedicated day or theme such as European Heritage Day, International Day, World Language Day, Refugee Week, etc. The assembly plan will enable children to apply their skills, knowledge and understanding in a new context.

  1. Share a picture of Huguenots arriving on a beach
  2. Children to consider the following questions – What do I know? What can I find out? What would I like to find out?
                                 “Who, Where, What, Why, When”
  3. Identify with learning partners some questions which are relevant to independent research by the pupils. Write these on post it notes and stick at the front of the class either under headings or for the teacher to sort with class. These can then form the basis for children to do some independent research for particular sessions, allow teachers to plan to cover the areas that they are interested in or to focus on as they come up in the teaching sequence.
  4. Display questions on learning wall and encourage children to add information as they find the answers.

Session 2

Aim: To be able to place the Huguenots in time.

“Who were the Huguenots?

Our story starts in France…”

  1. Use teacher presentation to give children an overview of where the Huguenots lived and why they had to leave
  2. In small groups give out cards that explain the role of each group member e.g. small child, weaver, reporter, silver smith, teacher, merchant ( people who brought talents and skills) – arrange yourself into a tableau of arriving at Dover, freeze frame – what are you thinking, saying, doing, feeling?
  3. Choose who you are and write a paragraph on arriving in a new country for the newspaper
  4. Find out the dates of these events and place them in order on the time line*
 Edict of NantesMy BirthdayGreat Fire of London
Parents BornFirst Huguenots arrive in BritainToday
Guy FawkesReformationSafe to pray in France
World War 1Revocation of the Edict of NantesFlorence Nightingale
*Choose the ones most relevant to the age of the children in the class       

Session 3

Enquiry Question: What was life like for a Huguenot living in Britain in the 18thcentury?

Use the website to research answers to complete the table

QuestionFranceBritain
How were the Huguenots allowed to practice their religion?
What jobs did the Huguenots have?
What language did the Huguenots speak?
What styles of clothes were worn?
What types of houses did the Huguenots live in?

Session 4

Enquiry Question: What do objects that have survived tell us about the Huguenots?

  1. Share a picture of a Spitalfields silk weaver family
    1. Learning partners – Partner A arranges themselves into one of the people in the picture. Partner B asks A what they are thinking, feeling, doing
  2. Apprentice Indenture document: Give out small parts to see if children can work out what it says. Ask them:
    1. What does this tell you about the life of an apprentice?
    2. Look at the translated document. What has been added to your understanding about houses, the rich and journeymen weavers?

Links to other subjects

  • How is fabric woven?
    • Children to have an experience of weaving 
    • Read text which explains how fabric is woven. Ask the children to turn this into a flow diagram to explain the process
  • Look at some silk fabric where the pattern is block printed.
    • Children create their own designs and print
  • Find out about the skills of other craftsman such as ceramists, silver smiths, gun maker

Session 5

Enquiry Question: Why did Anna Maria Garthwaite matter?

  1. Look at the postcards of designs from John Cass Foundation Primary School which were inspired by the work of Anna Maria.
  2. Research and write a short autobiography. What was special about her?

As a class decide whether you think Anna Maria was a courageous person? 

Links to other subjects

  • Art and Design
    • Ask the children to create their own fabric designs based on nature – flora and fauna – for a dress or jacket.

Session 6

Enquiry Question: Where did the Huguenots settle and how did they change the area?

  1. Plot on a map all the different towns that the Huguenots settled in.
  2. Ask the children to investigate the way in which the local area changed and the reasons for it.

Look for specific evidence e.g.

  • Weavers’ cottages in Canterbury and Norwich
  • Silk merchant’s house in Spitalfields
  • Journeyman’s house in Bethnal Green
  • Buildings that were once Huguenot chapels
  • The clock in the Guildhall in Winchester
  • Buildings – weavers houses, journeymen houses, churches
  • Street names e.g. Fleur de Lis Street; Blossom Street, Rochelle Street

Additional option to consider:

  • Take the class on a Huguenot trail of Spitalfields, Greenwich, Canterbury and Norwich
  • Researching the internet for evidence of other areas where Huguenots lived

Session 7

Enquiry Question: Who are the great Huguenots and their descendants who have influenced our culture? Choice could include: David Garrick; Sir John Hublon; Sir Winston Churchill; Laurence Olivier.

  1. Pick one who has inspired you and research.
  2. Write a short piece on their talents for the school newspaper or website

Session 8

Aim: To place the subject in a present day context.

  1. Choose one of the following articles from Unicef’s Rights convention to debate, using what you have learnt from the Huguenots.
  2. What are your views? Can you give examples to back up what you think?

Article 14

Every child has the right to think and believe what they want and to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Governments must respect the rights of parents to give their children information about this right.

Article 22

If a child is a refugee or is seeking refuge, governments must make sure that they have the same rights as any other child. Governments must help in trying to reunite child refugees with their parents.

Article 30

Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family, regardless of whether these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live.

3. Consider this recent example of a girl being shot for wanting an education – BBC News Story on Malala for example. Do you know of examples of people today fleeing their countries due to persecution?

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