This session supports QCA Unit 18 and National Curriculum KS2 Local History Study. The session lasts for 1 ½ hours, is suitable for one KS2 class. Shorter sessions can be adapted for KS1.

This session links really well with the Top of Town Tour, which is a chance for children to explore the historic environment of Basingstoke and to learn some fascinating facts about the buildings and sites that make up the top of town area. Two classes can be accommodated by one taking the tour while the other has the Local Area Studies session in the museum and then swapping over.

Organisation

During the session the class will work in four groups to tackle a range of activities; please organise these groups before arrival so that we can start immediately. When doing group work, the Interpreter Demonstrator will oversee the session but your own teachers and adult helpers will lead each individual group. If possible, it is useful for the Interpreter Demonstrator if your pupils are wearing name stickers.

Objectives

• To understand the passage of time and how it has affected the area around Basingstoke.
• Using maps from the last 250 years, to discover how Basingstoke has grown and developed.
• Using images of the town centre from various periods, to explore what has changed over time and what has remained.
• Using historical records from the 1901 census, to investigate how people lived in one street and compare that to our lives today.

Outline

Introduction

We will welcome the class to the Willis Museum, discuss what a museum is for and how it can help to find out about your local area. We will then explain how the session will run and break into four groups so that each group can tackle the activities in turn.

Activity 1 – Basingstoke Time Travel

Using a collection of images, the group must create a timeline showing the different periods in Basingstoke’s history from the iron age to the current day. They must then match a series of artefacts to the correct image.

Activity 2 – Basingstoke Grows

Using a series of maps from 1762 to the present, the group will be asked to trace the changes that have happened to Basingstoke as it has grown over time. They will look for features such as the expansion of housing, changes to transport links (roads, railway and canal) and evidence of industry and how people have spent their leisure time.

Activity 3 – Basingstoke Then and Now

An opportunity to look at old photographs of Basingstoke and match them with views taken more recently in the same places. What has changed and what has stayed the same?

Activity 4 – Census Detectives

Looking at an extract from the Basingstoke Census of 1901 for Winchester Street and Churchill Street, the group will be challenged to work out what sort of people lived in the houses and how they earned their livings.

End

A chance to share the learning from today – what did you discover?

You will be visiting the Willis Museum for 1 ½ hours to support the delivery of a session called “Local Area Studies”. The session has been devised and developed especially for Key Stage 2 pupils. You will be leading a small group of pupils as they try a range of activities in the museum; an Interpreter-Demonstrator will oversee the session and support you.

On arrival the Interpreter-Demonstrator will meet you and introduce you to the museum and give you a brief introduction to the activities you will be involved in. The class will then divide into the four, pre-arranged groups and you will stay with one of these groups to assist them as they tackle the four activities in turn.

Each activity has an instruction card and, where appropriate, additional information to help you guide the children through the activity. This additional information should not be read out to the group, as the challenge for them is to discover the answers for themselves, but you may find it useful in order to steer the activity.

The activities each last for approximately 15 minutes and are:

Basingstoke Time Travel

Using a collection of images, the group must create a timeline showing the different periods in Basingstoke’s history from the iron age to the current day. They must then match a series of artefacts to the correct image.

Basingstoke Grows

Using a series of maps from 1762 to the present, the group will be asked to trace the changes that have happened to Basingstoke as it has grown over time. They will look for features such as the expansion of housing, changes to transport links (roads, railway and canal) and evidence of industry and how people have spent their leisure time.

Basingstoke Then and Now

An opportunity to look at old photographs of Basingstoke and match them with views taken more recently in the same places. What has changed and what has stayed the same?

Census Detectives

Looking at extracts from the Basingstoke Census of 1901 for Winchester Street and Churchill Street, the group will be challenged to work out what sort of people lived in the houses and how they earned their livings.

At the end of the session, the class will be brought back together so that the children have a chance to share their learning with the rest of the class.

The session will take place in the gallery on the second floor of the museum, with access by two flights of stairs. A stair lift is available for anyone with mobility issues. The toilets are on the first floor and children must be accompanied