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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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...

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 -...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Remembrance Day (11 November) is an important time for children to learn about how we choose to both represent and remember significant events in the past. Within EYFS, learning about remembrance most obviously lends itself to Understanding the World – with a focus on children making connections between past and present,...

The huge benefits that local archives can bring to primary history are explored by Steven Kenyon. He illustrates this with a case study of Lancashire Archives. The central focus is on ways in which local history can support diversity in the curriculum by providing three examples – one for Key Stage...

Rachel Bruce and Susannah Russell were two of the six primary teachers on the recent Local History Teacher Fellowship. Here they outline the activities they were engaged in and how they produced two very different local history enquiries – one based in York and the other in Wrecclesham, Surrey. They...

The aim of this article is to teach local history through the prism of a local family. History is primarily about people. Using a family who lived in the locality over a large number of years, especially if they impacted considerably on that locality, can help develop an understanding of...