Here is a full term of planning and resources for year 4/5 teachers who teach the Stockton and Darlington railway. The topic focusses on substantive and disciplinary knowledge and comprises 12 weeks of fully planned and resourced history lessons.
These plans have been produced by a team of keen primary history teachers and museum professionals. Thanks to teachers from Mill Lane Primary,(Stockton), Tilery Primary (Stockton), Springfield Primary (Darlington), Heathfield Primary (Darlington), St Teresa’s RC Primary (Darlington), Reid Street Primary (Darlington), Mowden Infants (Darlington) ,Sarah Gouldsbrough and Eleanor Smith (Hopetown Darlington) and Cait Barratt (S&DR 26 Mile Heritage Project)
This full scheme of work will give 9 weeks of planning resulting in an opportunity to create a museum in your classroom at the end of the topic. Individual plans and resources have been sub divided into the sections below for teachers to access their planning with ease.
Click on the image below to open up the teacher’s plan
Use this knowledge organiser to help with class assessments at the end of the topic.
This vocabulary document will be a useful resource for classes to refer to weekly.
This teacher assessment can be used a year on from the class topic.
This introductory section will explore children’s own knowledge. Children will recognise the value of coal in people’s everyday lives in the past and how it was transported to the ports. They will understand how jobs have changed over time and how the Stockton and Darlington Railway has had an impact on this.
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes.
Here is some information about local jobs
Children can create a job advert using this template
Create a postcard depicting a form of employment before the growth of the railways.
Children will learn about the people who developed the S&DR. Here are some opportunities for paired / group discussions and collaboration.
by Thomas Lewis Atkinson, after John Lucas
mixed-method engraving, published 1849
NPG D13734
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes.
Here is a fact file about some of the influential people involved with the S&DR.
Children can create their own fact file using this template
Here’s an opportunity for children to recognise that people can see the same issue from different perspectives. Children will look closely at this petition and discuss the reasons for and against the S&DR in a class debate.
Image courtesy of Hopetown Darlington
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes
Here is a summary of labels giving reasons for and against the S&DR.
This is a more detailed list of reasons for and against the S&DR
Use this debate bingo worksheet to help set up your class debate.
Children will identify key places along the route of the Stockton and Darlington railway. They will work with maps and discover the different events that happened along the line during Locomotion Number 1’s first journey.
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes.
Here is a cross section measuring task for the class to complete.
This map is a cloze activity to mark the events during the opening day along the line. There are two worksheets for adaptive teaching.
Activity 2 – Main Map Task blank with word bank
Children will look closely at primary and secondary sources (and discuss those with some ambiguity!) to find out more about what happened on the 27th September 1825.
Painting by John Dobbin of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes.
This worksheet looks at primary and secondary historical sources.
This lesson looks at the kinds of roles needed to run the S&DR and how employment would have changed across the region as a result. Create a game of top trumps to compare and contrast the variety of jobs along the line.
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes.
This worksheet looks at different job roles along the S&DR in more detail.
Below are some worksheets to help your class create their top trump cards.
Museum template – Top Trumps card
Activity template – Top Trumps cards
Workers along the line were often faced with many dangers and incidents. This lesson shares some of the true stories of the early workers along the line and children are invited to create a news report about an incident or accident.
Image courtesy of Hopetown Darlington
Click here for the class powerpoint and teacher’s notes.
This worksheet is an abbreviated document showing some of the accidents along the S&DR.
This document looks at the accidents in more detail
Information about writing effective newspaper reports can be found below
Activity – Features to include in a newspaper report
Activity – Chris Lloyd’s article on S&DR accidents
Here is a template to create a newspaper report.
This lesson looks at the impact of the S&DR on the Tees Valley, the UK and beyond. This lesson allows children to share their thoughts and ideas with the class and to identify their own three greatest lasting legacies of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
Image courtesy of Hartlepool Borough Council
Click here for the class powerpoint and class notes.
Below are the four group activity templates,
Group activity – Impact notes on Wider Society
Group activity – Impact notes on Time
Group activity – Impact notes on Leisure
Group activity – Impact notes on Industry
Here is an individual worksheet for children to identify their own most important lasting legacies of the S&DR.
Trips to museums can bring a topic to life for your class. Many museums, including Hopetown, offer free entry and a sliding scale of charged experiences and opportunities throughout the day. If you’re not able to get to a venue and your school is close to a railway station or old railway line it might be worth the time to take a walk to uncover some features both old and new.
Follow this link to book a class visit for your class to Hopetown, Darlington. It would be best to book this visit in well in advance.
When you book your visit remember to book a “lite” loan box from the learning officers. These objects will help you to create your own class museum back in school.
The Museum in your Classroom toolkit will bring a sense of meaning to children’s learning. It gives children an opportunity to collaborate and to share their knowledge and ideas as part of a team. Loans boxes are available from Hopetown, and additional “exhibition” resources including label holders, pull up signs and display boards are available to loan from Tees Valley Museums.
Your class museum can include interactives, class work and even work brought in from home.
Why not invite parents or other classes to visit your class museum? You could add a museum shop or cafe to add extra reality to your museum?
This online toolkit is filled with ideas and templates to guide your class when making their museum.
