Year 7 History students have been bringing their studies to life by developing role plays and news reports to help them understand more about the horrors of living in plague ridden England in the medieval period. Here our ‘Plague Correspondent’ Emma in MI6 shares her account.
Life during the plague was dark and dismal, with a stench of decaying flesh rising from the pits enough to make anyone nauseous. Farmers were challenged and overworked; families were distraught, with relatives in the pit; children's hunger had risen.
Farmers faced a decrease in farm-hands which led to a downfall of crops. This then impacted on families who had little supplies to feed their family.
On the other hand, people living in castles had plenty of food, yet lacked certain food types.
The plague was like dominoes, wherever you were in the line, you would still topple over; whoever you were. The richest and poorest of people - wealth did not play a part with the plague. The strongest castles, the strongest shelters, neither were strong enough to protect those from the plague. All were affected, no one was safe.
Teacher Ms Oakes said, "I was really impressed with the quality of the work that the students created both through the role plays and their news reports. It was an interesting way of developing their understanding around this era and helping them to have more of an insight into what life was like for the people of that time."
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