Medium Term Planning Year 6
What was special about the Kingdom of Benin? (Spring 1)
Main driver – Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Geography focus
As geographers we will be using maps and atlases to locate the countries of West Africa and their physical
features.
History Focus
As historians we will be exploring the Kingdon of Benin, what made it so successful and what caused its
decline.
History
Chronological understanding

Can they place Benin on a timeline?

Can they compare this civilisation to the
Tudors?

Can they sequence a set of events from
previously studied topics in chronological
order?
Geography
Geography Enquiry
•
Can they label a diagram or photograph of the
landscape using some geographical words?
•
Can they make plausible predictions about what the
weather may be like in different parts of Africa and
the factors that could affect that?
Knowledge and interpretation
Physical Geography
•
Can they locate the physical features of West Africa
and place them on a map?
•
Can they recognise the significance of the position
of Benin to its success?
Geographical Knowledge
•
Can they name the countries of West Africa and
locate them on a map?
•
Do they understand the significance of contour
lines?
•
Can they locate positions on a map using lines of
longitude and latitude?
•
Can they recognise biomes and vegetation belts?
•
•
•
Do they understand why some objects/artefacts are
highly valued?
Why is it sometimes difficult to get to get a more
reliable version of the past?
How do traditional tales portray events from the
Kingdom of Benin?
•
Historical enquiry

•
•
•
•
Do they understand the difference between primary
and secondary sources?
Can they recognise the sources they can access for
historical enquiry?
What do the sources we are using tell us about
Benin?
How reliable are the sources?
Does the evidence help us to get nearer to the
truth?
Activities and questions to answer may include:
Cross Curricular Writing Opportunities

Why do we study Benin?

Diary writing as an Oba or member of the
army.

Who were the first people of Benin?

Instructions on batik dying or African dance.

Who were the leaders of Benin?

Non chronological report on the

When was Benin’s golden age?
geographical features of West Africa.

What did Benin city look like?

Journalistic writing on an aspect of life

What was life like for ordinary people?
within the Kingdom of Benin.

What goods did Benin trade with Europe?

Why were animals important in Benin art?

How strong was the army of Benin?

What caused Benin’s decline?

What are the Benin bronzes?
As artists we will be investigating the techniques of tie dying and batik and how they were used in the Kingdom of Benin and design
African fabrics of our own. We are planning to visit the local secondary school to use their facilities to support our studies. We will also
investigate the importance of bronze sculpting and study the artefacts that are still in existence; we will sketch and recreate the Benin
bronzes..
Incorporating ICT we will be using google earth to look at routes and locate countries. We will complete webquests and use search
engines to facilitate further research on the Kingdom of Benin.
Other Curriculum Drivers
Possibilities
Resources
We will explore the possibility of:
In music we will study African drumming (from the West African
being part of the Benin empire and how this compares to life in
region) considering rhythm and beat. In PE we will learn some
Benin in modern times.
body percussion.
Trips/visitors to enhance
Slavery museum – visit to the gallery and an artefact handling workshop
learning
Stimulus
Celebration