This History scheme of work video supports teachers in using census records as a rich source of information about real people from the past. It explains how pupils can explore local history through census data, such as comparing family sizes and ages across time, investigating occupations, tracing buildings or families through history, and examining differences in wealth between then and now.

The video suggests practical approaches for introducing pupils to census records, including analysing names, relationships, ages, occupations, and places of birth. Strategies for overcoming challenges, such as difficult handwriting, include using transcribed versions and explaining common terms like “head of household” and “ditto.” Pupils are encouraged to link their findings to wider historical contexts, such as the suffrage movement or world wars, and to identify what census data can and cannot reveal.

To deepen understanding, the video offers activities such as designing and conducting a class or school census, comparing data with other historical sources (factory reports, maps, school logbooks, personal diaries, etc.), and making inferences about the past. It also highlights the need to assess the reliability of census data, considering factors like transcription errors, intentional misinformation, missing records, and protests such as the 1911 suffrage boycott.

Teachers are encouraged to use these skills to guide pupils in planning and conducting their own local history investigations, using census data alongside other sources to reconstruct the lives of individuals, families, or communities from the past.

This video is part of Kapow Primary’s History – What can the census tell us about local areas? resources, supporting historical enquiry through real-world records.

• History, Year 6, Lesson 1: What is the census?
• History, Year 6. Lesson 2: What can we learn about Victorian children from the census?
• History, Year 6, Lesson 4: Why did some women refuse to fill out the census in 1911?
• History, Year 6, Lesson 5: What changed in the 1921 Census?
• History Year 6, Lesson 6: Who lived in our local area in the past?