To teach Y6 about the Slave Trade?

[manicinsomniac]

I work in a school which has always followed the Y7 and 8 History syllabus for our Y5s and 6s. Due to some restructuring I have ended up with one year group who have already covered what I would ideally want them to do this year. The suggestion is that I follow the Y9 curriculum with them. They are capable of it skills wise but I am not convinced about the content. A large part of one term will be spent on the slave trade.

My daughter is going into Y5 and I'm not sure she would cope emotionally with learning about the slave trade. I'm not sure that being just one year older makes it ok.

There are substitutions I could make.

Would you want your 10/11 year old to be taught at school about the slave trade? Please answer yes or not and why/why not? If there are enough nos I'll start rewriting!

Black History Week.

As pointed out by black children , it's highly patronising to be taught their history as a special thing rather than as section of a general syllabus, by a white middle class woman. I see the point made.

There was a thing on TV during the Olympics re slavery and my dc 8,8 and 7 saw it.I talked to them about it and they were fine.I've explained a lot of the US history including the neg things (we have ancestors who were white pioneers so they're v interested).

Ds 8 chose to do a project on Nelson Mandela after learning about him at school and he discovered a few graphic things(pictures I think it was of injured people on demonstrations) for somebody of his age on the NM website but he was fine.

I don't think history should be sugar coated tbh,mine all love Horrible Histories.

Go for it,I'd be pleased as a parent.

DD did it in reception. I remember her building a little Lego model of a slave ship and taking on board the essentials of the situation.

I was , but she didn't seem traumatised, a curious child is going to wonder why Jamaican people look so much like West African people long before year 5 - and obviously most children with Black Caribbean heritage will have been told about it by their families.

She has "done" Anne Frank in yr 5.

I think children should learn about the slave trade, after all it's what Bristol and Liverpool and the Tate fortune were built on.