St Paul’s Cathedral creates a ‘History Around Us’ workshop
22 May 2025
Emma Stanley, Learning and Engagement Officer at St Paul’s Cathedral
We were delighted when a secondary school reached out to us, explaining that they had chosen St Paul’s Cathedral as their site study as part of their OCR History B GCSE.
At St Paul’s, we are always looking to engage students with the awe and wonder of our space, helping them explore our broad history, national significance, and present-day role, so we were delighted to create a bespoke workshop for the students.
In this post I’ll share why we think St Paul’s Cathedral makes a great site for the History Around Us unit and how we can support schools interested in studying the site.
Creating a ‘History Around Us’ workshop
The St Paul’s ‘History Around Us’ is an investigative workshop specifically made to support students who are studying the OCR GCSE History syllabus and have chosen St Paul’s Cathedral as their site study.
Head of Schools and Family Learning, Charlie Rowbotham, shares why St Paul’s is a great place to use as a local history study:
“St Paul’s Cathedral has been based at the heart of the City of London for 1400 years and is an ideal location to discover more about the history of this capital city. From the Romans, through Viking invasion, the location of the beginning of national news, through to the Great Fire of London, St Paul’s has links to it all. Five cathedrals have been on the same site throughout the last 14 centuries, all with amazing stories and artifacts, which we would love to share with students. The ability to touch on all aspects of the history of Britain in this one location makes it an ideal choice for OCR’s History Around Us.’’
The workshop has a dual purpose: to inspire and engage students with their local history at a site of significance to Londoners and the wider nation, while also enriching and consolidating the skills and knowledge they need for their GCSE exam.
With the requirements of the ‘History Around Us’ module in mind, we set out to create a workshop that includes as much of the required content as possible. Primarily, students will explore the cathedral to learn about key moments in its history, understanding what it can tell us about the lives and attitudes of people across different periods. The workshop focuses on major historical turning points:
- the Great Fire of London and the cathedral’s subsequent rebuilding
- the 18th /19th Century addition of monuments to the cathedral floor and their links to the British Empire
- the role of St Paul’s and the St Paul’s Watch during the Second World War
- modern events, such as the 1964 sermon delivered by Dr Martin Luther King and the 2018 consecration of Dame Sarah Mullally as the first female Bishop of London.
Making sure students enjoy their visit
Most importantly, we want the students to enjoy their visit to the cathedral. So, when studying each era in the cathedral’s history, learning is enriched by activities and memorable experiences. These range from lying beneath the iconic dome, to studying archival documents, images and artifacts. For example, to understand why the cathedral is located at Ludgate Hill, students study a 17th Century map, that was originally produced in the cathedral’s churchyard. As well as this, they explore replica incendiary devices and are shown the size of a one tonne bomb, all acting to deepen student understanding.
After exploring historical context at different locations around the cathedral, for example visiting the Duke of Wellington’s monument to discuss the introduction of over 300 monuments to the cathedral floor, students apply their knowledge to elements of the exam specification. At each stop, students refer to a tailor-made resource booklet to recall knowledge to support later revision, such as the main individuals associated with events, the cathedral’s physical features, and how the site has been used throughout its history.
The workshop also provides opportunity to analyse second order concepts, such as change and continuity, cause and consequence, and significance. Being physically present at the site adds clarity to these complex ideas and terms, giving students tangible features to write about in their exam. Charlie Rowbotham explains:
“The learning team can support each school directly with a bespoke offer, allowing students to really understand this pivotal site and its varied role throughout the centuries. Our offer is fully inclusive, and we will work with you to enable your students to gain as much as they can from a visit to us. In a recent survey, 100% of teachers who have visited would recommend us to their colleagues.”
St Paul’s Cathedral from the South East gardens (photograph by Graham Lacdao)
Feedback from the school
Nuala Long, Head of History at The Perse School, Cambridge, shared her views:
“When we set about choosing our site study for GCSE OCR B we went through the site criteria and realised that we wanted a site that reflected as much of English history as possible. For that reason, we settled on St. Paul’s Cathedral as it represented a line of continuous history from the Anglo Saxons to the present day and as a site centred on religious worship, we felt that this was a story that can perhaps be neglected in schools.”
“At the same time the cathedral shows the interconnected nature of England’s relationship with the rest of the world and the way that this has changed. It is also frankly, just an iconic building!! The site visit is a hugely important part of our teaching and makes it much easier to show students how the fabric of this building tells us as much as some written sources. Students being able to lie on the cathedral floor and look up at the dome teaches them more than an image in a classroom. The learning team at the cathedral are a fantastic resource for us to use.”
What’s next?
We would be delighted to offer our ‘History Around Us’ workshop to other schools that select St Paul’s Cathedral as their site study.
Alternatively, we offer several other workshops for secondary schools, including ‘History Set in Stone: Church, Power and Empire’, which looks at how the monuments at the Cathedral can inform understanding of the British Empire and its influence and impact on the wider world, and ‘The Big Issues’, where students explore Religious Studies course content around the cathedral and then engage in open discussion via a Q&A with an ordained member of the Church of England.
To read more and to book, go to our Learning Portal.
For more information, email learning@stpaulscathedral.org.uk or call us on 020 7246 8353.
Stay connected
If you have any questions about History Around Us or our history qualifications, you can email us at history@ocr.org.uk call us on 01223 553998 or message us on X @OCR_History.
You can also sign up to subject updates to keep up to date with the latest news, updates and resources.
If you are considering teaching any of our qualifications, use the online form to let us know, so that we can help you with more information.
About the author
Emma joined the Schools and Family Learning Team at St Paul’s Cathedral this year. After transitioning from her role as a secondary school History Teacher, Emma formerly worked at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford and HMS Belfast.
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