Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.

Have you stuggled to find an invigorating, exciting local enquiry to motivate your Year 9 class ? How do you engage students in lively debate? This was the challenge for one Norfolk school who wanted to develop a local study on the Poor Law and to create opportunities for students to develop their speaking and listening skills. The challenge was to find an enquiry which would both engage and motivate the students so that they could not help but want to argue their viewpoints - both verbally and in writing. The model that was created and shared was the result of joint planning  and collaboration between the school, the staff of Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse and the Local Authority.