‘Children need to feel rooted in their community. It is important for them to understand the history of where they live, go to school and what has shaped their community.’ (Simon Atkinson, the head teacher at Hampstead Parochial School)
We had such great feedback from the ”Tomb with a View” project in 2012 that we are doing another project this year to commemorate the outbreak of the First World War. Four local primary schools and over 600 pupils are taking part.
Local history is part of the primary schools’ National Curriculum history syllabus at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, but putting together local history activities is resource intensive for teachers as information is scattered and not readily available. We have created a teachers’ pack to provide material on life in our community in 1914 and how it changed after the war broke out. The pack includes numerous stories taken from the parish magazine and the Ham and High, and highlights how the people of Hampstead were generous in their support of soldiers at the Front and convalescing soldiers in their midst, as well as the challenges and stresses and strains of life at Home during this period.
Each November 11th we say “We will remember them”. We think it is important to re-tell some of the stories of individuals so that our annual promise is not an empty one. The teachers’ pack therefore includes material on the lives of 8 local men from across the social spectrum who fought and died in the conflict.
During the project children will be encouraged to imagine life in 1914, and will be taken on tours of old Hampstead. They will create their own newspapers and these will be on display in church during the summer. The culmination of this stage of the project will be two concerts by the children in the church at the beginning of July.
We would like to make the teachers pack available to more schools as an online resource and are in the process of raising funds to do so. A website will enable us to share the amazing stories we have unearthed more widely.
If you would like to know more about the project, have a look at the teachers’ pack, or contribute towards the project costs, please contact Sheena Ginnings at [email protected]
Chris Money at [email protected] or
Marilyn Brooks at [email protected]