"Young people have a natural curiosity about human experience in the past. The nature of how life was different in the past from someone like them, or their parents, is a powerful means of attracting their interest. The value of being able to relate experiences and events in history within the framework of their local environment, enriches their understanding and grounds it in reality, which often ensures that they retain the information for a lifetime. They also enjoy the pleasure of instructing others in what they know.

At Bishop Perowne, we try to ensure that pupils appreciate the local dimension of national events. After all, the horrors of the Black Death may be no more ‘real life’ than the last comic story. However, seeing the effect on the Cathedral architecture of a generation of Masons wiped out by the ‘sickness’, brings reality a lot closer.

In Year 8 pupils are encouraged to undertake a local history study of their own choice to extend their knowledge of their local area. This study is done over a period of several months, in their own time, with just a small amount of school support time to monitor progress.

Local history study has the potential to sustain such extended study work. Alongside the pursuit of knowledge, the task has clear aims of a more cross-curricular nature. Pupils develop research skills of locating and extracting information from a variety of types of sources and formats. They then analyse and synthesise that information into a coherent and orderly account. Finally, they have to communicate that knowledge in an extended written format using good English skills. They are also encouraged to use information technology skills to draft and present the final product. Local history as a focus activity to utilise and acquire new skills, makes a positive and valued contribution to a pupil’s learning experience".

" For the past nine years I have been involved with the Junior Award for Year 5 (9 - 10 year olds). The preparation begins with a letter sent home at Christmas time. This gives parents an opportunity to generate enthusiasm. The boys now have from January to May to complete the task. Each week in the Lent Term a class will have a regular 15-30 minutes in a history lesson to discuss progress with each other and their teacher. They are encouraged to write letters asking for interviews, to plan the questions they will ask and use their weekends for fieldwork with their parents. As the weeks go by, replies to the letters, research photocopies, photographs, documents and other primary sources appear. The draft and final write-up usually get completed over the Easter holiday and by May the last projects are collected in.

Judging is completed by the end of the Summer holidays. After the Awards Ceremony in September the projects are returned to the school and put on display on the corridor walls and foyer table. This gives a sense of achievement to project owners who are now in Year 6 (their final year before moving up to the Senior School), and also encourages the new year 5 to produce even better work and so the cycle starts over again.

A regular teacher of the year group lists the uses of the History Project:

Encouraging the use of primary sources.

Children have ownership of their work and are in charge of the whole process of the project.

Development of presentation skills, either in word processing or handwriting.

Investigational skills - following clues to lead to fuller understanding.

Organisational skills - use of time and resources

Producing work for an audience other than teachers, giving the child a fresh incentive".