Local History

Our Local History session is a completely bespoke session for you. We will use historical maps covering your locality as well as objects to show what life was like around 100 years ago.  

This session can be taught: 

• as a half day outreach in your school 
• as an online session 

The content of these sessions does vary, but we try to keep them as similar as possible.

Half Day Outreach at School:

• Object Handling and Investigation – we show the children how to be mini archaeologists, while looking at and holding original artefacts in our Local History collection. We ask them to use their observation and historical enquiry skills, as well as any prior knowledge to form a theory about what they are and were used for. They will share some of their theories before we reveal what archaeologists think they are. 
• Map Comparison – we unfold some giant maps of the North East from our archives, dating to the 18th and 19th centuries, and examine what we can see on them, and what this tells us about the region during this time. Your class will then be provided with two historical maps of your local area from different times. They will mark features that change between the two dates, and things that stay the same. Afterwards, they share what they have found, and we discuss what this can tell you about your area’s history.
• Census – if we have time, we will look at a set of census returns from addresses in your local area from over 100 years ago. What will we discover about who lived in your area in the past? 

Need to know:

• For an outreach half day, we aim to arrive at school to begin teaching at 9.30am, fitting in around the established school breaks of your school, until lunchtime. Alternatively, we can teach this session during the afternoon, beginning just after your lunchtime ends and finishing shortly before the end of your school day.
• We can teach up to three classes on the same day on outreach, but early bookings are essential so we can allocate the required number of staff to make it possible.
• The cost for half day outreach is £3 per pupil, with an additional flat rate charge of £20 towards transport costs.
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Online Session:

• Object Investigation – we show the children how to be mini archaeologists, using our overhead camera, to give them a detailed look at our Local History artefacts. Having modelled how to use our artefact investigation sheets, we ask the children to independently use their observation and historical enquiry skills, as well as any prior knowledge to form a theory about what they are and were used for. They will share some of their theories before we reveal what archaeologists think they are. 
• Map Comparison – your class will be provided with two historical maps of your local area from different times. They will then mark features that change between the two dates, and things that stay the same. Afterwards, they share what they have found, and we discuss what this can tell you about your area’s history.
• Census – if we have time, we will look at a set of census returns from addresses in your local area from over 100 years ago. What will we discover about who lived in your area in the past?

Need to know:

• An online session is one hour in length.  
• Session times are 9.30am – 10.30am, 11am – 12noon, and 1.30pm – 2.30pm, but we can accommodate slightly different timings. Please ask at the point of booking if this is something that would be helpful for you.
• You will need to book a short test call with us to check that you can see and hear us on the whiteboard in your classroom. These are available at 3.30pm, 3.45pm and 4pm.
• We ask that you book separate sessions for each of your classes so we can keep them as interactive as possible. 
• You will be sent an email with resources to print out before your session. 
• The cost of the sessions is £35 per class. 

National Curriculum Link:

History – Key Stage 1: significant historical events, people and places in their own locality. 

Awareness of the past. 

Identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. 

Ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show they know and understand key features of events. 

Understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past.

Session costs