Curriculum links commerce

Curriculum links by theme

Commerce

Curriculum links

Key Stage 2

Geography

To locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities.

General Maths Topics Linked to the Travelling Salesman Theme

Activities include calculating distance, chronological ordering, conversion between old and new money, percentages and multiplication.

Key Stage 3

Geography

To extend students’ locational knowledge and deepen their spatial awareness of the world’s countries using maps of the world to focus on Africa, Russia, Asia (including China and India), and the Middle East. With a focus on the environmental regions of these areas of the world, including polar and hot deserts, key physical and human characteristics, countries and major cities.

Design

To use research and exploration, such as the study of different cultures, to identify and understand user needs.

General Maths Topics Linked to the Travelling Salesman Theme

Activities include calculating distance, chronological ordering, conversion between old and new money, percentages and multiplication.

Key Stage 2

What is a travelling salesman?
Find out who Arthur Allen and Dai Davies were, and what roles they had in the factory.
Where did the salesmen travel to in the UK?
What evidence is there that Newman Brothers had a global trade?
How do you think Newman Brothers decided which countries and regions to sell to? What did those countries have in common?
What challenges would a travelling salesman have faced?
How did the coffin furniture that Newman Brothers supplied change over time?

Key Stage 3

Using the sales ledgers and salesman receipts provided in the resource pack, mark on a world map which countries Newman Brothers traded with
Put the sales ledgers and salesman receipts into chronological order
What challenges would the salesmen have faced in each country during the given time periods? (Pay particular attention to a cancelled order to Malta Go to the Newman Bros. Ledger)
What different religious beliefs may have affected sales abroad?
How did Newman Brothers decide which countries to market their goods in? What factors would they have needed to consider before introducing their goods to a new country or region?
How has marketing changed over time?

Suggested Activities

Use the Salesman receipts to identify some of the places in the UK the Salesman visited. Mark these on a map.
Place the Salesmen trips on a timeline. Did he do repeat business anywhere?
Newman Brothers also sold their products overseas. Using extracts from the International Sales Ledgers from the 1930s and 1940s, mark on a World Map which countries Newman Brothers traded with. What do their sales abroad tell us about the company? Discuss the similarities and differences between the areas that Newman Brothers sold to.
Put the sales ledgers into chronological order.
Can you find any connection between cancelled orders and world events?
Tracking your progress on a map and using sales orders or expenses claims, write a week’s worth of diary entries.
Using the Travel and Transport Activity Sheet Travel, calculate how far the Travelling Salesman would have travelled in a week. How much commission would he have earned? Earning Commission Activity Sheet
Write a brochure or an advert for Newman Brothers. Why are their products the best?
Look at the profiles of two of Newman’s Travelling Salesmen. Write “a week in the life of…” for one of them.