History and social studies
Two Great Fire accounts: origin, date and purpose
For Year 6 pupils, compare two classroom summaries by origin, date, form and stated context, while separating supplied facts from inference.
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For Year 6 pupils, compare two classroom summaries by origin, date, form and stated context, while separating supplied facts from inference.
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Teaching template 1 Two Great Fire accounts: origin, date and purpose Audience: Year 6 pupils These are classroom summaries, not quotations. Use only the source details and summaries supplied here. Enquiry How do the source forms and summaries shape what we can learn about the Great Fire response? Source A: Samuel Pepys's private diary Who: Samuel Pepys, a senior Navy Office official. Date: 2 September 1666. Form: private diary, written in shorthand and first published in 1825. The short classroom summary describes people moving belongings and Pepys asking the King for orders to pull down houses. A specific intended reader is not stated. Source B: London Gazette Form: printed public report approved by royal officials. Published by authority from 3 to 10 September 1666; this issue has the dateline Whitehall, 8 September. The short classroom summary says the report credits the King and Duke of York with orders and describes the fire spreading. A specific intended reader is not stated. Evaluate the summaries 1. Who made Source A, when, and what type of source is it? 2. What dates and publication details are supplied for Source B? 3. Which statements above come directly from the supplied source metadata? 4. What might a private diary or an official public report be used to record? Label your answer as an inference. 5. Write one value and one limitation of each short summary. Do not evaluate wording because exact source wording is not supplied. Judgement: “The summary of Source __ is useful for learning __ because __. It cannot show __.”
A teaching sequence
Use source labels, dates and short classroom summaries to compare what a private diary and an official newspaper report can show, while identifying what remains unknown.
Identify maker, dates and source forms
Identify the supplied maker, dates and publication form for each Great Fire account. Keep diary date and later publication distinct.
Which details are supplied for Pepys and the London Gazette summary?
Compare the kinds of account
Compare the private-diary and authorised-public-report summaries through their metadata and stated content. Use no quotation that the material does not provide.
What can a private-diary summary and authorised-public-report summary each offer?
Separate metadata from purpose inference
Mark which statement is supplied metadata and which is an inference about purpose or audience. Keep the specific intended reader unresolved where the sheet does.
Which statement is given, and which must be labelled might?
Name a value and a limit
Write one value and one limitation for each classroom summary. Explain why an exact-wording judgement needs the source wording rather than these summaries.
Why can these summaries not support analysis of exact source wording?
Before you teach
Look for the thinking behind an answer, choose the support your class needs and leave room for an independent response.
What to look for
Supported answers distinguish a private diary dated 2 September 1666 from the London Gazette report published by authority from 3 to 10 September, with issue dateline Whitehall, 8 September. A specific intended reader for either item is not stated in the supplied summary.
Give a little support
Read the cards aloud and provide an origin-purpose-content-context grid with sentence starters.
Take the idea further
Discuss why an official report might emphasise royal action while a diary records one person's experience.
Things to keep in mind
No exact diary or newspaper wording is supplied. Pupils can evaluate the source labels and summaries only; they must not claim to analyse wording, verify quotations or establish the full event from these short accounts.
Keep the idea. Make it yours.
Bring your topic, learning goal and class context to PLAI™, then review what you create.
Another starting point
Explore a different teaching task from this selection.
Source analysis: two community notices
Read both fictional notices. They describe a made-up community path decision; they are not historical evidence or statements about a real school or place.
Explore resourceIdeas to try with your class
Sample teaching perspectives on what to try, what to adapt and what to watch for.
Meet The Creators
Meet a creator whose teaching interests connect with this template.
Tea Break Notes
The enquiry question gives the comparison a through-line, while the final judgement frame asks for usefulness and limitation. The intermediate prompt that separates metadata from inference is important before pupils write about “purpose”.
Gentle Reminder
This Year 6 sheet asks pupils to decide what the supplied form and summaries allow them to learn about the response. The judgement sentence turns that decision into a short evidence-based conclusion without treating the classroom summaries as original sources.
Helpful Highlighter
The origin-purpose-content-context grid gives pupils a place to sort details before writing. Read the cards aloud if needed, then use the frame “useful for… because…; it cannot show…” to keep value and limitation in the same answer.
Pocketful of Stories
No exact diary or Gazette wording appears, so the task correctly rules out evaluating language choices. A useful extension is to identify one further record that could test a claim about the response, then say which uncertainty it would address.