At Larkspur Primary School we base our History topics around local history.  Local history helps children make sense of their immediate world. Good local history involves enquiries that allow children to investigate, drawing on their previous historical knowledge and understanding.

In Early Years they begin to make sense of their own life-story and family's history.  

                                                                                      In Year 1 we use local links to the seaside.  We learn about how seaside holidays have changed over time.  They learn about changes around the beach and what people did then and what they do now. 

In Year 2 we learn about the Great fire of Gateshead which began between midnight and 1am on 6th October 1854.  The fire lasted for one day.  Fifty-three people died that night and over five hundred were injured. At least eight hundred homes and businesses were lost.

In Year 3 we learn about the Romans.  We have lots of local history about the Romans.  We have Hadrian's Wall, Arbeia Roman Fort and Segedunum Roman Fort. 

In Year 4 we learn about Vikings.  One of the things we learn about is an attack on Lindisfarne by invading Vikings from Norway. 

In Year 5 one of our topics is Crime and Punishment.  

There has been a castle at this site on the banks of the river Tyne since the Romans built Pons Aelius in around 193CE.  The New Castle was built in 1172.  Some crimes were punished by prisoners being hung, drawn and quartered.

One topic Year 6 learn about is Felling Pit Disaster.  This is very local to us.  In 1812 there was an explosion in the Felling mine.  This is the mining disaster that inspired local inventor, Sir Humphry Davy to invent the Davy lamp.