History

At John Cross, we believe history fires pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Pupils should be encouraged to develop a chronological framework of British history that will enable them to make sense of the new knowledge they acquire and make links between events from the past. This will also allow them to understand the process of change, to see how we arrived ‘here’ and help them to make sense of the present, their world, and enrich their understanding of it. We want pupils to realise that the past is gone and history is constructed and contested. History’s unique concepts help pupils to construct arguments and support them to become analytical citizens who can question human motivation and society with skill and confidence.

Year 5/6 visit to York, the Jorvik museum and DIG! 7th March 2023

The year 5/6 children had a fantastic day out in York as part of their history and geography topics.  

When we arrived at St. George's carpark, the children were given maps to navigate us to our first destination, DIG on St. Saviour's road.  Our route took us through The Shambles, a medieval street, which has even been used as a filming location in the Harry Potter films!

At DIG, the children were able to find out how we know so much about how people in the past lived, by digging with trowels to discover things from the Viking, Roman and Victorian eras.

After that, we had to navigate our way to the Quaker Meeting House on Friargate, where we had our lunch.

Finally, we made our way to the Jorvik Viking museum, where the children were given a talk from a viking about building remains found, before they embarked on a ride back in time to see what living as a viking was really like!

Year 3/4 Visit to Ribchester Roman Museum!

The Year 3/4 children had a super trip to Ribchester Roman Museum as part of their Roman topic!  They learnt all about the Roman settlement that had been at Ribchester, along with artifacts that have been found there. They even got to try on armour helmets, and hold swords.  Patrick at the museum took us outside to look at the Granary ruins, where the Romans would have stored their grain. We had a good wander around the museum completing a quiz, before leaving and exploring Ribchester.  We even found the Roman bath ruins in the afternoon too!

Class 2 - Castles 

As part of their topic work on castles Class 2 looked at early castles and how they were constructed. They were then able to construct their own models of motte and bailey castles out of sand and lolly sticks. 

Class 2 trip to Skipton Castle 

The children had a brilliant day, consolidating learning from the classroom on the construction of castles whilst gaining more knowledge about life within the castle walls. The following day in class the children were able to answer many questions and complete tasks based on their visit and what they now knew about the various rooms and life inside the castle. 

Y5/6 Victorian Seaside Resorts and Blackpool Topic!

Year 5 and 6 children have been studying the topic of Victorian seaside holiday resorts, with a focus on Blackpool, linked to our geography topic.

As part of this topic, the children explored why seaside resorts became popular in the Victorian era, along with the importance of railways and trains becoming wide spread.  We are lucky that we have Blackpool on our doorstep, and so were able to visit the resort, looking at the mixture of Victorian and modern architecture, whilst also drawing 'bird's eye' view maps in the square next to Blackpool Church. We also enjoyed a walk on on the Central pier, looking at the Victorian features, before visiting the Sealife Centre.

At school, the children researched different aspects of Victorian seaside holidays, and in groups created 'Victorian' advertising posters to try to entice people to visit in Victorian times. 

Seaside Holidays Now and Then 

The children in Class 2 enjoyed learning how holidays were different for children in the past. As well as their dedicated history lessons their classroom was transformed to reflect their topic. They enjoyed a seaside role play area which was firstly resourced with familiar plastic bucket and spades, relevant clothing and plastic seating etc to replicate familiar holidays today. As the children became aware of facts about holidays in Victorian times these resources changed to reflect their knowledge. Plastic buckets and spades were replaced by metal and wooden objects, folding seats were swapped to wooden deckchairs and Victorian clothing and swimwear were added to a bathing hut to get changed in. The children also enjoyed entertaining each other with old Punch and Judy puppets.

STONE AGE MAN VISIT!

Year 3/4 had a full day's visit from a Stone Age man to support their learning in this topic! Not only that, Dan is famous, being one of the stars and having lived as a real Stone Age man as part of Channel 4's 'Surviving the Stone Age' series. The children learnt all about how Stone Age man lived and hunted, along with their clothing and food.  They even got to try out some of the furs, instruments and weapons before making sap lamps in the school woodland in the afternoon!