Key Stage 3 history · Local history
KS3 local history study: a guide for parents
At Key Stage 3, every pupil should take part in a local history study: an investigation into the past of a place, building or community near where they live. It is the most hands-on part of the history curriculum, because the evidence is outside the classroom door. Pupils practise asking their own questions, finding and testing sources and writing a reasoned account, which are the skills that GCSE history builds on.
A local history study, explained
The National Curriculum simply says that pupils should be taught “a local history study”, and gives three non-statutory examples that schools may choose from. One is a depth study linked to one of the British areas of study, such as how a nearby castle or town was affected by medieval events. Another is a study over time, testing how far sites in the locality reflect aspects of national history, and the curriculum notes that some may predate 1066. The third is a study of an aspect or site in local history dating from before 1066. Schools usually pick something that suits where they are.
Because the choice is so open, no two schools teach exactly the same unit. A school in a former mill town might study the factory and the housing around it, while a rural school might investigate a hill fort, a village church or a battlefield. Some schools visit the site and some work from photographs, maps and records brought into the classroom. What stays the same is the method. Pupils start from an enquiry question, collect evidence, work out what it can and cannot tell them, and then write a structured, evidence-based answer.
Sources are central. Primary sources come from the time being studied, such as maps, letters, photographs, parish registers, census returns and the buildings themselves. Secondary sources, such as books and websites, were written later by people interpreting the evidence. Pupils learn to ask who made a source, when and why, and what it leaves out. The census, taken every ten years since 1801 apart from 1941 (with everyone’s names recorded from 1841), is a favourite because it shows who lived in a street and what jobs they did. Archives and local museums are the usual places to find such records.
The study also ties local places to the national story. A school might ask how far the history of its town matches what happened across Britain, or whether a local event was typical or unusual. Pupils learn to avoid two mistakes: assuming their area is more important than it was, and assuming nothing important happened there. Either way, they come away with a stronger sense of how large national changes, such as industrialisation or war, affected real people in a particular place.
Words your child will hear
- Primary source
- Evidence from the time being studied, such as a letter, a map, a photograph or a building.
- Secondary source
- An account written later by someone who studied the evidence, such as a history book or guidebook.
- Archive
- A place that keeps historical documents and records, such as a county record office.
- Census
- An official count of the population, taken every ten years. In England and Wales, the detailed returns are opened to the public once they are a hundred years old.
- Parish
- The area served by a local church. Parish records of baptisms, marriages and burials go back centuries.
- Depth study
- A detailed investigation of one place, event or short period.
- Enquiry question
- A focused question that guides an investigation, such as “How did the railway change our town?”
What the National Curriculum says
The programme of study for Key Stage 3 says:
- Pupils should be taught about a local history study
- Pupils should pursue historically valid enquiries including some they have framed themselves, and create relevant, structured and evidentially supported accounts in response.
- Pupils should understand how different types of historical sources are used rigorously to make historical claims and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Try it: investigating a local church
How far does our village church reflect the history of the nation?
- Start with the question and break it down. “How far” means looking for both links and gaps. Decide what to look for: the age of the building, how it changed, and who paid for it.
- Look at the building itself. Round arches and thick walls often point to the Norman period. Pointed arches and large windows are usually later medieval. Plain whitewashed walls may show the changes of the Reformation. Each feature is evidence of when and why the church was altered.
- Add written and visual sources. Parish registers record baptisms, marriages and burials. Memorials on the walls name local families, including those who died in the world wars. An old map shows where the church stood in relation to the village, and old photographs show what has changed.
- Test the sources. A guidebook is a secondary source, and its dates may be guesses. A memorial was paid for by a family who wanted a certain impression. Where possible, check one source against another.
- Draw a conclusion with limits. Say what links the church to national events and where the local story is different, and note what you could not find out.
A model conclusion might read: “The church shows several periods of national history, from its Norman doorway to the war memorial added after 1918, so it reflects them well. But it was built and changed by a small village with limited money, so it shows the national story only in part. Parish records would be needed to find out how ordinary families lived, which the building alone cannot tell us.”
Common mistakes and how to help
Thinking local history is just old buildings and nostalgia
Visits to a castle or museum can feel like a day out, not an investigation. Children expect to be told facts, not to find them out.
What helps: Ask what question a visit is answering. Pupils should come away with a claim they can back up with evidence, not just a list of things they saw.
Believing the oldest source must be the most reliable
Age feels like authority. But an old source can be biased, copied wrongly or written long after the event, while a newer one may be better researched.
What helps: Ask who wrote it, when, and why. Compare two sources about the same thing and decide which is more useful for a particular question, which is not always the same as which is more accurate.
Assuming nothing important ever happened in their area
Textbooks focus on famous events, so ordinary places look left out. In fact roads, field patterns, street names and buildings show how national changes reached every locality.
What helps: Pick something nearby, such as a railway line or a war memorial, and ask what national story it belongs to. Local libraries and record offices are good places to look.
Treating one source as enough
Finding a good photograph or a story from a relative feels like finding the answer. A single source gives a single view, and can be wrong.
What helps: Make “find a second source that agrees, and one that disagrees” a habit. It is the heart of how historians check their claims.
How to help at home
- Compare an old map with today’s. Find an old map of your area at a library or record office and put it beside a current one. Ask what has changed and what has stayed the same, and what that suggests about the area’s history.
- Decode street and place names. Pick a name near you, such as “Mill Lane” or “Tanners Row”, and ask what it might tell us. Then check whether you can find a second source. Place-name explanations are often educated guesses, which is a useful lesson in itself.
- Interview a neighbour or relative. Ask someone who has lived locally for decades how the area has changed. Record or write down what they say. Then talk about what a memory can and cannot show as evidence.
- Take then-and-now photographs. Find an old photograph of a local street or building and try to take a modern one from the same spot. Discuss what is missing, what is new and what the change tells us.
- Visit your local museum or record office. Many are free or low-cost, and staff are often glad to help young people. Go with a specific question in mind, rather than just browsing, and be prepared to follow where the evidence leads.
Related topics
Builds on
- Key Stage 2: A local history study
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