HISTORY – The Vikings
Lesson theme 5: Brutal Pirates or Brilliant Sailors?
Summary:
In this lesson pupils begin by considering some of the challenges that people
experience when they move to a new country, including being misunderstood
by the natives of a country. They then think about how the Vikings might have
been misunderstood and what challenges they might have had. They make
their own mind up on whether Vikings were in fact ‘brutal pirates’ or ‘brilliant
sailors’.
Curriculum focus: Citizenship & History
KS2 CITIZENSHIP
Developing confidence & responsibility and making the most of their abilities
Preparing to play an active role as citizens
Developing good relationships and respecting the differences between people
1a
2 a, c, e, f
4 a, b, d, e
KS2 HISTORY
Chronological understanding
Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past
Historical interpretation
Historical enquiry
Organisation and communication
Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in Britain
1 a, b
2 a, b
3
4 a, b
5 a, c
9
SEAL THEMES
Managing feelings
Empathy
Social skills
Managing how I express my feelings
Managing the way I am feeling
Understanding the feelings of others
Valuing and supporting others
Friendships and other relationships
Resolving conflicts
Lesson objectives:
 To explain the challenges people might have when they move to a
different country.
 To decide by using evidence if Vikings were actually ‘fierce pirates’ or
were they actually misunderstood.
Resources:
Scenario - A New Start NB: New text to be received
Lesson:
1. Read through the scenario attached about Freya and Erik’s first day at
school in their new country.
Discuss with pupils:
 What challenges did Freya and Erik have on their first day?
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(E.g.:Possible problems with language, strange clothes & food,
different way of doing things, others not being friendly)
Why do you think the pupil said such horrible things to Freya?
(Because they were new, easy to target, and didn’t know much about
their situation)
Who do you think was wrong in this story?
Should Katie have deserted Freya and Erik?
What would you have done if you were Erik / Katie?
What can the pupils and school do to stop this issue happening again?
NB: These questions may need adjusting when new text is received
2. Explain to pupils that;

For many thousands of years there have been many people from
different countries coming to the UK for a better life. For example;
Vikings, Anglo Saxons and in the last 60-70 years people from the
Caribbean and Asia.

At the same time, many people from the UK have moved to other
countries to have a better life. For example America and Australia.

It can be very hard to adapt to a new country, often because the
cultures are so different. Sometimes we can think bad things about
new cultures that we come across until we learn more about their
culture. Sometimes we can look back in history and see how
misunderstood the people were at the time.

The Vikings came to the UK from Scandinavia (including Norway)
between AD700 to 1100. For many years, Vikings were considered
‘fierce pirates’ but perhaps they too were misunderstood and could
actually be called ‘brilliant sailors’.
3. Split the class into two. One group is from Channel Viking and the second
group represents the BBC. Using the information they can find on the Norway
website and the BBC website they should prepare a thirty second news flash
announcing the arrival of the Viking people to the UK.
Pupils should think about what they learnt from Freya and Erik’s story when
writing their newsflash.
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Whose side would they be on?
What information might they share?
What information might they keep quiet about?
What might the other side say to their newsflash?
Plenary:
Present the news flashes to the class. Using all the information they have
heard ask pupils to vote. All those pupils who think the Vikings were pirates
must call out ‘ARRRGHHHH, Shiver me timbers’, those that think the
Vikings were brilliant sailors call out ‘Ahoy sailor’! The loudest phrase wins.
A NEW START
George and Katie had enjoyed a brilliant summer and now on their first day
back in year six had been selected to look after the two new pupils that had
just started at their school. Especially excited because they knew their new
friends had just arrived from a different country, George and Katie went to the
reception to meet the new pupils; Freya and Erik. Freya looked very nervous
and to be honest, looked a little strange with some very weird shoes on. You
could see she wanted to stick by Erik’s side. George tried to say hi but after
getting some strange looks realized that maybe Erik didn’t understand him.
‘Oh well’, they both thought …’this is going to be harder than we first thought’.
Still, George and Katie were determined to make Freya and Erik feel
welcome.
George and Katie led the way and took them back to their classroom to meet
their class. A few of their classmates snickered when the two pupils came in
but George gave them a dirty look and put a stop to it. For the rest of the
morning, George, Katie, Freya and Erik worked together in groups in class.
Lunchtime came and the two new pupils trundled along behind George and
Katie to the dining hall. Erik seemed to have trouble deciding what he was
going to have for lunch. He was turning his nose up at everything. He finally
settled on the fish and chips but left the mushy peas behind. Sitting down
together, George and Katie tried to learn more about their new classmates.
Freya was starting to relax and it looked like she might turn out to be a lovely
new friend.
Suddenly from across the room a pupil from their class yelled out to Freya, ‘go
back to where you come from, we don’t want you at our school’. Before they
knew it, Erik jumped out of his seat and upturned the pupil’s dinner all over his
school pants telling the boy to ‘shut up! He didn’t know what he was talking
about.’ Then he sat back down and acted like nothing had happened …
trouble was, something had happened and the whole school had seen it.
Worried about getting into trouble herself and seeing the dinner lady walking
angrily over to their table Katie, made an excuse and quickly left the table
leaving Freya and Erik to deal with the wrath of the dinner lady.