Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers

Why Shipping Matters

We are proudly supported by the Department for Transport and AMVER

With many many thanks to the volunteers at the Port of Shoreham and Bromley Little Theatre

Information for parents/ home school champions

Well done parents and carers for all the home schooling you’ve taken over the last weeks. Some of our Institute team are in the same boat, and we understand the challenges you’ve been facing. We’ve found lots of online activities that our kids are working on singularly, but we wanted to find some ‘table top’ learning that we could do together.

Last year we developed classroom lessons for primary school children that cover the National Curriculum in English, Science, History, Maths, Art, PE and Geography. Over the last few weeks we’ve looked at ways to bring these lessons in our ‘home’ schools. The following lessons meet the learning criteria for children in Key Stage 2 (though useful to those older and younger too), and are designed for you to be able to work on with your kids, across the kitchen table. Each lesson has a lesson plan, and an activity for you to try out. If you would like some extra help, there is a powerpoint introduction for each lesson.

Please use any/ all of the lesson below! We hope they help. Let us know what you think, if you find a glitch or missing link, or if there’s a subject you’d like us to cover in future. Oh, and if your children want to write to “Captain Jim” as part of their English lesson you can send your letters to us (via email [email protected] or post Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, 30 Park Street, London, SE1 9EQ, United Kingdom). Make sure you include a postal address and every child will receive a personal letter back!

Geography – learning about trade and commodities. You can also download the supporting worksheets about countries here and on the different types of commodities here.

English – plan and write a letter. There are three worksheets to help with this; an example letter here, planning your letter here, and using a template. Want to see a message from one of our captains? You can watch this video. Or you can find out about how a captain plans his voyage here.

PE – some games you can play, including learning about semaphore. To help, here’s the semaphore alphabet!

Science – how do magnets work, how do ships navigate and how to make your own compass here.

Geography – where does our food come from? You can use this world map to help, and (especially for the parents), here’s the cheat sheet with the answers!

History – all about heraldry, with the chance to showcase some Art by designing your own family crest. Extra help/templates can be found here.

English – a creative writing lesson all about discovering an unknown island. There’s some extra help to storyboard here.

Science – why do ships float? To assist in your home experiment, you can use this investigation template.

Art – using mixed media, make a collage.

History – where are you from? Learn about London’s history, and meet some interesting people from the past. Video links are below and a story board to help is here.

Carpenter from the year 1235

Celt from the year 480

Soldier fighting in 1870

A smuggler in 1651

Key Stage 3 – maths lessons are being developed too! These are stand-alone presentations on specific mathmatical concepts. Coming soon…

Information for schools

The ‘Why Shipping Matters: An Introduction for Schools’ programme was created to provide an insight into shipping for primary school aged children, specifically those in Key Stage 2.  The programme has been designed with a dual purpose: firstly to begin to build an interest in our shipping industry at an early age and to grow their understanding of its impact on the UK, and the region these young people live in.

The programme has been carefully developed in consultation with classroom teachers to ensure that it provides real world learning experiences directly linked to the National Curriculum in English, Science, History, Maths, Art, PE and Geography. There are 6 lessons that make up the core of the programme, with a further 4 lessons as an extension to the programme, culminating in an optional trip to one of the recommended locations. Each lesson lasts approximately 60 minutes and they are designed to be taught in sequence over one full school day or as one lesson per week across a term. A number of topics are covered by each lesson including:

– Trade and commodities

– Import and Export: Global Trade

– Vessels and their cargoes they carry

– Navigation and technology

– Letter to a Ship and other creative writing

– London as a Maritime Port/ The history of maritime Sussex/ etc based on region

Pupils have the opportunity to participate in activities and experiments which will teach them about imports and exports, how vessels float, different forms of navigation, life on board a ship and the unique maritime history of their local region or port.  As part of their English lesson, they write a letter to a captain, and every pupil receives a personal postcard back from “Captain James”.