The UK National Curriculum

Emphasis will be on supporting key stage 2 with future development of key stage 3 and key stage 4 as well as life-long learning modules. The facilities available will be progressively increased, relying on feedback from students and teachers. For example we are considering whether classes should have the opportunity to upload material into the Archive based on their own fieldwork and studies and whether, on returning to The Mills Archive they should be automatically presented with their own home page with recent work and new items of interest available by a single click.

Studying History
History helps shed light on (these) big questions. It introduces children to an unfamiliar but important world - the past. Piecing together the picture of the past is a bit like detective work. Children use different kinds of evidence to find out about people's lives and events and how things have changed. Learning how to weigh up evidence and reach conclusions are just some of the skills children develop through studying the history of Britain and the wider world (Department of Education and Skills web site for Parents)

Work in the Mills Archive will help students develop knowledge, skills and understanding by studying history. Students could use the Mills Archive to work on the five key skill bases:

Placing events in chronological order: knowledge and understanding of events people and changes in the past. Why mills developed and declined, why things happened and what occurred as a result. The historical period covered by the curriculum that best matches with The Mills Archive’s resources is the Victorians. This is of particular interest to those in year 5 of key stage 2 (ages 9 and 10).

Historical interpretation. Pupils will discover different ways the past is represented.

Historical Enquiry. Pupils should be encouraged to find out about the history of mills and milling for themselves through stories, eyewitness accounts and photographs as well as visits to mills and museums. Archives such as The Mills Archive with its catalogue of source material, photographs, oral history recordings etc represent an easily accessible way to build a life-long interest in historical enquiry.

Organisation and Communication. The Mills Archive is so rich in examples that each member of a class could learn to select their own material and assemble it to tell a story in various ways.

Breadth of knowledge: finding out about the ways of life of those who lived locally as well as discovering more about significant individuals such as inventors and engineers etc. The Mills Archive’s topographical emphasis means there is scope to help with local studies that may be undertaken by schools.