One street, twenty children and the experience of a changing town: Year 7 explore the story of a London street

Michael Wood and others have recently drawn attention to the ways in which big stories can be told through local histories. Hughes and De Silva report a teaching unit through which they aimed to help Year 7 pupils make history come alive by exploring the history of a local street and the people who lived in it using census materials, the physical environment, maps, old photographs and many other resources. Each group was allocated a house and asked to explore its history, developing both their understanding of historical enquiry and their historical imaginations. Using the history of one locality as a lens, they examined big themes, such as migration, important in both urban and national history...