Age Range: Upper KS2 I Cross-Curricular

Learning Outcomes: Using prints, maps, newspaper articles and photographs students will piece together the captivating hidden history of St Stephen’s Hall, including its role as a regency ballroom in 1766, its fascinating connection to the Royal Pavilion and its current use as a day centre for people who are street homeless in Brighton and Hove

Resources: 5 Everyday Objects Resources Pack Hidden History of St Stephen’s Hall Video Archive File Flipchart Paper String & Pegs Video Camera

History Detectives Workshop Outline

Activity 1: How do we find out about the past? Explain to the students that they will be uncovering a mystery about the past. Ask students:

o How do we find out about the past? Capture answers on a whiteboard Tell students that today they are going to be History Detectives who work at a Local Records

Office. Ask students: o What type of documents might be kept at a Records Office? o Why might it be important to keep these types of documents?

Explain that while working at the Records Office they’ve come across an unlabelled archive file of documents. They have to use their skills to find out everything they can about what building the documents relate to so that the file can be labelled correctly

Before beginning the task tell the students that you need to test their detective skills. Split the class into groups of five and give each group an everyday object, for example, a phone charger, a set of keys or a fountain pen. On a piece of flipchart paper, ask the students to write down everything that the object tells us. If students require prompts, encourage them to consider:

o The age of the object, what it is made of, who it might belong to, what we can determine or speculate about the person it belongs to etc.

Encourage them to think as broadly as possible. Discuss thoughts as a class

Activity 2: Solving the mystery! Hand each detective or group an Evidence Form and circulate the tables with the archive file,

asking each group to take three documents. These can be found and printed from the Resources Pack. Using their investigative skills, the Detectives should be given a few minutes to find out or speculate as much as they can about the building from the documents. Every few minutes the Detectives should move on to another table, making notes on the Evidence Form as they go

Once the Detectives have viewed each document, re-group as a class and discuss what they have discovered for each of the themes. This can be captured using a thought-shower on a whiteboard or by pegging the documents to a string timeline.

Can any links be made between the themes? Can any of the documents be matched together? Draw some conclusions and appraise good investigative analysis Tell the students that a DVD has just fallen out of the archive file – ask them whether they think

you should watch the video to see whether it has any further clues on it Play ‘The Fascinating Hidden History of St Stephen’s Hall’ video

Activity 3: Using your senses… Students to return to their groups. Hand each group an image of the building and ask them to

use their imagination to ‘climb into their image’ and ‘transport themselves through time and space’ so that they are in the building at the time of the image. As a group, students should complete the 5 Senses Worksheet to capture what they experience in the building. Encourage students to come up with as many answers for each sense as possible

Discuss as a class

Activity 5: Create your own archive! Reinforce that the students have managed to uncover a 250 year-old story just by raising

questions about documents and objects in an unlabelled archive file To encourage students to think about how we have many more ways of recording a moment in

time in the modern day, pose the question: What objects or documents could the students put in an archive box that would build the most accurate picture of what their school is like today for people in the future?

Encourage students to think about how to capture: o What purpose the building has o Why people come here and who they are o How people feel about the building o Where the building is o What it looks like

Extension: Create an exhibition displaying the contents of the archive about their school

Activity 4: Over to you… To evaluate learning and to capture the history of the building, each group will remain ‘inside

their image’ and create a news report for modern-day viewers about the building as it is at that time. Students should refer to the class thought-shower or timeline and their 5 Senses Worksheet to report on information about:

o What period of time it is o What the building is used for o Who uses the building o What you might be able to see, hear, smell etc. – the viewer wants you to paint a

picture with words! o What they think about the building

Each report should have: o 1 student as News Reporter o 1 or 2 students as Bystander/s, to be interviewed by the Reporter o 2 or 3 students as people using the building

In chronological order, each group to perform their news reports to the class. Record reports on video

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www.bht.org.uk

Extension: History: Visit your local Records Office and investigate the history of the

school, or its local area

English: Refer to the 5 Senses Worksheet and write a poem imagining that you are a brick in the wall of St Stephen’s Hall

Art: Create a potato print inspired by the urns, husks and sphinxes on the pilasters found in St Stephen’s Hall

Design a poster to attract the public to visit St Stephen’s Hall Investigate fashionable décor colour schemes of the Regency period and explore how paints and dyes were achieved Design Tech: Conduct a study into architectural features that define different

historical eras. Can you find examples of these styles in your local area?

Music: Listen to music from the Regency era and compare it to popular music

of today. Consider the different instruments, style and tempo

PE: Learn a typical dance routine that would have been performed when St Stephen’s Hall was a ballroom, or devise a new dance inspired by music of the period

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Resource Pack

Prepared: July 2015

History Detectives

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c.1850’s

Activity 2: Solving the Mystery!

‘The Fascinating Hidden History of St Stephen’s Hall’

bht-heritage.org.uk/resources/#hidden-history-youtube