The Key Stage 1 and 2 history curriculum requires a local study. The local study is an opportunity for pupils to engage with their local area; to discover how it has been shaped by those who came before them and how their locality can reveal broader chronological and spatial contexts. As well as helping pupils to develop their own sense of identity in relation to their locality, it also provides a great opportunity to discover the rich diversity of the past from people to places to buildings and sites.

This webinar series will:

• Equip you with a greater understanding of the value and impact that a well-planned local study can have
• Show the opportunities that exist to weave diversity through a study of your local area
• Demonstrate lots of practical ideas that can be mapped onto any local study

Programme

Session 1: Bringing history alive through local people and places (Free for HA members)

The webinar will take participants through a brief introduction to understand the value and importance of learning history through local people and places. It will consider the impact this has on children’s depth and quality of learning, understanding and identity. It will offer a series of practical activities and resources which will support the planning and teaching of history. The approach starts with the personal and local histories of people and places and shows how links can be made to the national and global contexts.

Session 2: The importance of identity, diversity and inclusivity in local history

For history to be meaningful, all children need to feel that the past speaks to them and they play a part in history. Previously hidden, little-known stories from the local area and from their many communities can achieve this and open a window to inclusive national and global themes. In this webinar we shall explore ways to achieve this and answer the questions: Who am I? How do I fit in to all of this?

Session 3: Exploring the local environment, finding the past in our place

Where we live contributes to who we are, sometimes explicitly and sometimes indirectly. In exploring our local environment we can validate our own experiences of that place. What we also do with local environmental history is begin to see how a place has been shaped by previous human beings. We can investigate how land has been used in the past and what this tells us about how a diversity of people lived. This webinar will consider how we can make use of the local environment to trace changes that have affected lives through considering some mini case studies.

Session 4: Widening diversity when choosing local significant individuals 

This webinar will support you in widening the diversity beyond the 'male, pale and stale' selection of people for your local history studies in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Reference will be made to the Historical Association's significant individuals resource and exemplification of how this resource can extend the range of people you study, in both the specific local history units and also when selecting people from your own locality or region to illustrate some of the national focus units in KS1 and the KS2 British periods of study.

Session 5: Relating diversity to your local history: themes and events from the past

This webinar will demonstrate how teaching about events and themes from the past needs to be related to broader spatial and chronological contexts. The session will focus on embedding diversity through key themes such as migration and monarchy as well as events including the Second World War and city fires in the 17th century.

How to book

This webinar series took place in Spring 2023 and we have made access to the recordings available on demand from January 2024–January 2025.

Release date: Wednesday 3 January 2024
Expiry date: Monday 6 January 2025

You will need to be logged in to pay and access each webinar using the links on this page. We regret we are unable to arrange block purchases or issue invoices, but VAT receipts are available upon request. Once you have purchased each webinar, the recording will be available to view at the bottom of the relevant resource page until the stated expiry date. 

Terms and conditions

All prices are listed inclusive of VAT. 

All Historical Association webinars are subject to the HA CPD terms and conditions. For enquiries please contact events@history.org.uk.