Local Study

The importance of local history for developing a sense of place and identity is emphasised by the National Curriculum. The local landscape and buildings can often reveal a great deal about the use of land and the type of people who lived there in the past. Buildings and landscape can reveal how long a heritage the place has had. Monuments and local heritage or parish records can highlight individual local heroes or provide a window into the lives of ordinary local people in times gone by. How similar or different were their lives? Often, the local picture can also help to reveal the national or international picture.

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  • One of my favourite history places: Glastonbury

    Article

    Glastonbury, whether as a fleeting glimpse across the Somerset Levels from the M5, or up close and personal, walking within the town, holds a power that goes some way towards explaining why it has been of interest to so many people across its history. There are certain places that seem...

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  • One of my favourite history places: Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds

    Article

    When I was born my family lived in Kirkstall close to the Abbey and Abbey House Museum. We moved to Ireland Wood not long after this photograph was taken (I am the small one in the middle) but if we ever had a day out in the city we would...

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  • One of my favourite history places: the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum

    Article

    This certainly represents one of the more unusual in the ‘My favourite place’ series: a hospital for the mentally ill for the poorer sections of society. Buildings such as this, however, were often imposing structures with fine architecture and an important history. With a growing recognition of the importance of...

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  • Our heritage: use it or lose it

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. Mrs Markham's influential textbook, ‘A History of England', was first published in 1819 but was still being printed at the end of the nineteenth century. At the end of each chapter is a ‘Conversation'...

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  • Out and About First World War memorials in the heart of London

    Article

    The First World War had an enormous impact on society and on our landscape, perhaps not through war damage as was the case during the Second World War but through the erection of memorials. It doesn't matter where I am in the UK and often when abroad I will find...

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  • Place-names and the National Curriculum for History

    Article

    Place-names, such as house or school names, are infinite in number and all around us. Every place-name may convey a message about the place. Often place-names record and celebrate local and national people, events and incidents, define what a place looked like in the past and how we used to...

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  • Planning a Victorian School Day

    Article

    Learning is more engaging and better retained when it is contextualised and when it appeals to a variety of learning styles. How better to bring history alive, than by having it invade children's school environment and transform their everyday experience? Getting away from predominantly auditory learning, the printed word and...

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  • Planning for local history

    Article

    Editorial comment: Barbara writes from the viewpoint of a classroom teacher facing the challenge of ‘Doing local history' for the first time.

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  • Primary History 46: Citizenship, Controversial Issues & Identity

    Article

    04 Editorial: history, citizenship and the curriculum – a fit purpose (Read article) 05 In My View: citizenship education in primary schools – Lord Adonis 06 In My View: history and identity – Sir Keith Ajegbo 07 Citizenship, identity and culture: Two Poems – Benjamin Zephaniah and an 8th century...

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  • Primary History 52: Education and the Environment

    Article

    03 Editorial 04 In my view: Education and the built environment – Dominic Balmforth 06 In my view: Primary history and Engaging Places – Rochelle Whitty 08 In my view: Engaging Pupils: An A Level student describes her experience of collaborative working with Key Stage 2 – Bernice Waghorn 09...

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  • Primary History 55: Doing Local History

    Article

    Editorial 05 In my view: 'Be bloody, bold and resolute'. Two possible interpretations of 'Local History' - Colin Richards (Read article) 06 In my view: Doing local history - John Fines (Read article) 08 In my view: Local history for children: Through the eyes of a B. Ed. Student -...

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  • Saltaire: Planning for an effective learning experience on a living site

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. In the autumn of 2009 I agreed to contribute to a project looking at how Saltaire village, Bradford could be developed as an educational site. This is a very popular site visited by many local schools,...

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  • Scheme of Work: Local History – transport

    Article

    Children can be introduced to the idea that transport has changed considerably in the locality over time and that this has had a significant impact on the way that the community has changed and developed. They can also understand how and why these developments have occurred. This unit is structured...

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  • Scheme of work: Local history – the story of our High Street

    Article

    Teaching a unit that considers ‘changes within living times’ requires a focus that provides clear evidence of those changes. Children need to be able to identify specific differences as well as recognise relevant similarities. While we all still undertake shopping on a daily or weekly basis the processes involved in...

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  • Scheme of work: Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality

    Article

    Children can be introduced to the idea that schools have been in the locality for some time but they have not always been the same. They can look at similarities and differences, as well as be introduced to some of the events that affected the schools. The theme allows children...

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  • School children work as archaeologists

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Adults find local history fascinating: the minutiae of life in the past and the way a familiar place has become what it is today capture our imagination. But children may be rather less eager to...

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  • School war memorials as the subject for enquiry-based learning

    Article

    A visit to a local war memorial to coincide with Remembrance Day leaves a lasting legacy. Every year, groups of primary school children visit a war memorial in their town and village or local church, and increasingly benefit from educational visits to sites of remembrance such as the National Memorial...

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  • Shropshire's Secret Olympic History

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. What has a small Shropshire town got to do with the modern Olympic Games? Why is a country doctor a key figure in the development of the modern games? Why is one of the 2012 mascots...

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  • Significant anniversaries: the infamous Beeching Report 1963

    Article

    March 2023 sees the anniversary of a report that had profound significance on social history and which affected many parts of the United Kingdom. There is every chance that it had an effect close to your school especially if you are in a more rural or coastal area. The Beeching...

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  • Take one day: undertaking an in-depth local enquiry

    Article

    Local history units of study provide teachers with valuable opportunities, but these can also seem daunting. Potential challenges for teachers include the perceived overwhelming scope of the topic, difficulties in developing subject knowledge and knowing where to find resources. However, none of these is insurmountable, if teachers identify a clear learning...

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