History

Welcome to our History page.

St Peter's is at the heart of an area that is rich in local and regional history. The first railway was built in Newton and the Rainhill trials happened just a few miles away. The world famous Sankey Valley Viaduct built by George Stephenson is in Newton and to get to it from school, you have to travel down an old Anglo Saxon road and cross an old Roman road that comes from Chester. The Roman city of Chester is on our doorstep, as are the ports of Liverpool and the industrial Victorian mills of Manchester. In World War I, an ex-pupil called Norman Harvey won the Victoria Cross and this is celebrated in school. 

Our curriculum intent is to use our local historical resources and landmarks as a way of teaching children not only about history, but the affect that some significant historical events had upon our local area and still affect us today. We aim for a high quality curriculum which should inspire children to find out facts, not just about Britain, but the wider world. They will learn about ancient civilisations, changes in living and beyond memory and about significant people in the past. Children will learn through developing, applying their enquiry skills and using investigative skills as well as visiting local places of interest on educational field trips. 

Example Knowledge Map- See attached document for our curriculum's knowledge mats. 

Timelines and Chronology

The use and understanding of a timeline is pivotal in our curriculum and each unit of work starts with studying, locating and plotting key events on a timeline in relation to the previously studied units of work. 

In EYFS and KS1, we display our timeline using concrete resources. Resources that are used regularly during our maths lessons. Children have a reinforced understanding of the length of time that has passed. 

Key Stage 2 have a timeline displayed in each classroom showing the periods of time that we study throughout our learning and how these overlap with other key time periods. This allows children to draw similarities between different units of study. 

History at the Heart of our School

Here at St. Peter's, history is prominent around our school. Newton -le- Willows has a long and influential history with national and international impact and importance.

Within our local community, events and moments of historical significance have taken place including:

• a Roman road running through our town,

• a Saxon fort within half a mile of our school,

• the oldest junction in the world between two passenger railways Earlestown,

• the Nine Arches- one of the first railway viaducts in the world,

• Sankey Canal- the first canal of the industrial revolution,

• Norman Harvey VC (ex St. Peter's pupil)

• and the invention of float glass at Pilkington's Glass.

Text rich curriculum

Here at St. Peter's, we pride ourselves on having and promoting a text rich curriculum. For each unit of work studied, children have access to a wide range of texts to support their learning and promote enquiry within the classroom. Children have a selection of primary and secondary sources as well as a new and updated range of non fiction books that can be accessed and borrowed from our whole school library. 

Galleries

Year 1 Great Fire of London