This term in history, we will be looking at someone of a local significance. We will be finding out about Joseph Lancaster who was responsible for a large part of an educational revolution in the 19th century. His methods of teaching used a monitor system which meant classes of up to 300 children could be taught at once. This made a huge difference to the lives of many poor children who were able to go to school free of charge for the first time. He is locally important because the last surviving Lancaster classroom in the world is in the nearby town of Hitchin which we will be visiting towards the end of our topic. Through our enquiry based learning, we will discover more about Joseph Lancaster, what his classrooms were like, the impact he had on children at the time and education today and investigating the decline in his teaching methods. In our role play area, we can pretend to be monitors and children in one of his schools! We can take turns with the pointing stick to teach each other reading, write on the slates or in the sand and decide who gets to wear the
monitors badge.
