This half term in Year 4, we have been learning all about the Windrush Generation through a beautiful text called ‘Granny Came Here On The Empire Windrush’ by Patrice Lawrence and Camilla Sucre. This story retells the life of Granny who arrived in England following a journey from Trinidad onboard the Empire Windrush, which arrived in Tilbury Docks, Essex on 22nd June 1948. We learnt from the story that Granny is telling her granddaughter all about her life and the discrimination she faced whilst trying to build a life for herself in England.
We have using the text to practice writing using expanded noun phrases, conjunctions and adverbials in order to build up more complex sentences which detail more information for the reader. This has really enhanced our writing in Year 4 and we got to write a letter as Granny telling her family all about her first experiences of England. We learnt that the Windrush Generation were not used to the colder and wetter climate of England and that they had to work long hours for very little pay. We even used our class iPads to conduct some research on a famous singer called Mona Baptiste who travelled on the Empire Windrush and went on to have a wonderful career before retiring in Dublin, Ireland.
Granny’s granddaughter had also asked us to help her write a speech for her special assembly in which she dressed up as Granny and wanted to explain why she is such a influential person in her life. Once we wrote our speeches, we put ourselves into Ava’s shoes and performed it in front of the whole class to practice having an audience.
Lastly this week we have been using questions and research to write a factual report all about the who the Windrush Generation were and how they contributed to England. We even got meet Granny’s husband ‘Grandpa’ who turned up one morning after Mr Garnet had contacted him for an interview. We got to practise asking our questions and he was very informative to help us with our research. We then even took turns at putting ourselves into Grandpa’s shoes and what it must have been like for him.
Year 4, your work in English this half term has been outstanding. What has you enjoyed most and would you recommend this book to anyone? Why?
