Great Fire of London in Year 1

[SleepingStandingUp]

So this weekend it'll be helping my 5 year olds make cardboard houses and then lots of pretend fire burning them down. With my eldest we did a big picture with lots of tissue paper fire and I can honestly say it still feels like such an odd thing to teach 5 year olds about.
Why is it still such a big thing on the primary school curriculum? I just don't really see why we need to be taxing 5 year olds about how London burned down once!
Aibu? Surely there other history that's more age appropriate? I know it's all a big gory etc but I just feel like more sensitive kids might get really disturbed by so much talk about burning houses!

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

Tbh I don't have to do homework on that so 🤣🤣🤣

@HonoriaBulstrode I thought we were talking about the great fire of London. Yes, plague everywhere. Several plagues too! The Fire is a pretty good curriculum topic though.

My kids are in their 20s and did the GFOL in y2. Teachers could probably do it in their sleep.

It’s a significant historical event that’s pretty easy to explain and also, compared to others, has a very low death toll. And burning cardboard houses is fun. They’ve got to teach them something, and a lot of history is either pretty gory or requires an understanding of politics that would be beyond the reach of young children.

Well we had COVID lock down so I had a pack and we learned about burying cheese, pudding lane, fire hooks ,wooden buildings ,sewage systems , the king Samayal poops and sir Christopher wren.

Some years ago I taught the GFOL to my year 2 class in London. We went to the London Fire Brigade Museum and to St Paul's for a workshop. One of the kids had a firefighter dad who came in and gave out London Fire Brigade freebies and did a fire safety talk. My highlight was when one of the kids very seriously asked him how many people he had saved in the Great Fire of London!

I agree. My daughter became absolutely fixated on the house catching fire after learning about this in year 1 😬,. It’s an odd and scary thing to teach 6 year olds. Really pissed me off actually, it triggered a real and irrational fear of fire which she’s still hasn’t overcome age 9!

Have you ever read a fairy story? Hansel and Gretel? Red Riding Hood? The Pied Piper of Hamelin?

Or, if you prefer, cannibalism of infants, stalking by ferocious predator, mass abduction of hypnotised children.

A city fire in which very few people died is pretty tame, really.

I bet if you live in Nantwich they teach that one! Maybe mumsnetters from Nantwich can confirm this. Alas, it is not taught more widely in Cheshire. I live in that county and it's actually the first time I have heard of it, but thanks for highlighting it. Very interesting, especially the complication with the escaped bears.

That must have been such a fun lesson for the kids! Wish ours had done that one

After all this time, if you've not been able to manage and allay her fears, have you sought counselling for her?

I loved teaching TGFoL. You can have so much fun with it. They are at that age where fire engines are still very cool, there are lots of trips you could do, you could pretty much incorporate it into every subject. My own children loved learning about it too.

Only because they only counted rich people who died in the stats apparently!

Out primary goes cross curricular with the GFoL...
Both DS produced some fantastic art learning paint shading to get graduated flames and black buildings and beams.
Lots of singing plus sign language for one (COVID so no singing in class only at home to the music they sent home) in a song about it all
Obviously history then they did some newspaper front pages for 'writing' (more picture than words as they were only Y1.
Sadly no real fire or fire engine

Ok, again, I concede defeat. I admit I've realised it's more about not wanting to make cardboard houses and tissue paper fire TWICE. And I've learnt lots. We're not very local to a London unfortunately

Sorry to hear it upset her so much x

Well I can't attest to what the boy who hated Mummies had read, but I'd never put in any of the gory details for eldest given I know how squeamish he is. O would for my twins. My point was that no matter how sensitively you teach something, most of the kids will likely be fine but there may always be one who isn't. Like crying over mummies or turning pale over hearts or the Po's DD and her fear of fire. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be taught, I just think the GFOL is such a dark thing and real.

Oh my son absolutely loved this project. It was his favourite thing all year.
We went to the local library and reaearched it and got loads of photocopies of pages in the books. There was a whole shelf in the kids section.
We visited the monument in London and went to the london transport museum where they had stuff about it.
There are so many interesting tales within the history of individuals.
Dig a bit deeper into the history of it and its super interesting.
Its also a tale of warning about fire.. lots of cautionary lessons to be learned!

All kids have fears.

The job of parenting is not to protect kids from being afraid, but to make them feel protected from what they’re afraid of