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KS2 History: Elizabeth Fry

Video summary

Elizabeth Fry tells the story of her life and how she reformed Newgate prison.

It is told in the first person, and brought to life with a mix of drama, movement, music and animation.

We see the moment she attended a Quaker meeting and heard the words of preacher William Savery, urging the congregation to do good with their lives.

Determined to do good herself, she visited Newgate Prison and, appalled by the conditions there, set out to change things.

She taught the children and sewed their clothes for them.

Elizabeth's actions led to the reform of the prison system across the country.

This clip is from the series True Stories.

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Teacher Notes

Questions to consider whilst watching the film

Depending on the focus of your lesson, you may wish to ask the following questions after the video or pause the short film at certain points to check for understanding.

  • How would you describe Elizabeth Fry as a child?
  • The Fry family were Quakers. How did that influence the actions of Elizabeth?
  • Why was hearing William Savery a turning point in Fry鈥檚 life?
  • Why did Newgate Prison have such as bad reputation at the time?
  • Elizabeth Fry was appalled by the conditions the prisoners were kept in. Why was that?
  • Why do you think children were in the prison if they were innocent of any crime?
  • What did Elizabeth Fry do to help the prisoners?
  • Why was Elizabeth Fry鈥檚 school in the prison such a success?

Learning activities to explore after the video

History is a subject which can lend itself to a wide range of cross-curricular links. As a teacher, you will have a greater awareness of how this topic may act as stimulus for learning in other subjects. However, the suggestions below relate to ways of developing the children鈥檚 historical knowledge and understanding.

Key Question: Why is Elizabeth Fry still remembered today?

SignificanceThere have only ever been three women to feature on the back of Britain鈥檚 banknotes since 1975 and Elizabeth Fry is one of them. The has details of her and the other two women. This could be a starting point for considering why Elizabeth Fry is historically significant. The teachers' notes on this Florence Nightingale 91热爆 Teach video provide some guidance for teaching historical significance in the classroom.

This video could be a useful source too, though it focuses on her work at a single prison - Newgate, yet she also influenced prison reform across the country. This 91热爆 Bitesize guide shows how people like Fry and others led to the passing of the 1823 Gaols Act; although this is designed for GCSE students, the text can be understood by KS2 pupils.

When studying Elizabeth Fry, it is possible to explore the importance of her faith, which is a key feature of this film. She is one of the most notable Quakers and this has a lesson plan on her, which has clear links to Religious Education. The website makes reference to as well as ; the latter may be useful for teachers but is not a source for use in the classroom.

The story of Elizabeth Fry could be used as stimulus to explore 19th century crime and punishment more generally. 91热爆 Teach has a series of four videos containing the stories of young 'Victorian villains' and these cover different aspects of the topic. Even if you do not use the films, each one has teacher notes and any one of these could be used as a follow up to this film. Each story of a real child criminal is used as a springboard to explore a key question relating to Victorian crime and punishment and the teacher could choose any one of these enquiry questions:

  • Life in a Victorian Industrial School: What were the attitudes of Victorians towards crime?
  • Life at a Victorian Reformatory School: What were the differing attitudes to boy and girl criminals?
  • How photography changed everything for young Victorian offenders: What can we learn from the records of Victorian child criminals?
  • Life in prison for young Victorian offenders: Do you agree with the view that all Victorian punishments were pointless, painful and cruel?

Learning aims or objectives

England

From the history national curriculum

Pupils should:

  • understand historical concepts such as 鈥ignificance.
  • understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims.

Northern Ireland

Links can be made with the other learning areas:

  • by researching and expressing opinions and ideas about people and places in the world around us, past, present and future.

Scotland

From the Experiences and Outcomes for planning learning, teaching and assessment ofSecond Level Social Studies:

  • I can use primary and secondary sources selectively to research events in the past.
  • I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence.

Wales

From the new Humanities Area of Learning and Experience

School curriculum design for History should:

  • develop rich content across the time periods, through which learners can develop an understanding of chronology through exploring 鈥 change and continuity.

Principles of progression

Descriptions of learning for Progression Step 2

Enquiry, exploration and investigation inspire curiosity about the world, its past, present and future:

  • I can collect and record information and data from given sources. I can then sort and group my findings using different criteria.
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