Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.

My favourite subject in primary school was always history. I loved everything about history, but in particular I liked learning about the history of the local area. I went to school in a small Yorkshire town where the population boomed during the Industrial Revolution with the building of mills and factories. Many of these buildings still stand today; some have been converted and some have been demolished. Thanks to the diverse nature of the buildings and area we were able to use the locality for many different topics, but in particular the Victorians: how they lived and social change during the nineteenth century.

The locality is a fantastic resource which is not used enough. By going out into the locality you are giving children the chance to explore their surroundings, look in detail at things they have always taken for granted, appreciate their local area and encouraging them to ask questions and suggest possible answers. Through going out into the community and asking children to observe and make recordings of their findings we are also teaching them about citizenship and developing them into good citizens who appreciate and have respect for their local area.