L1b · Do Now — While You Settle In
Name:
Class:
Date:
Get started on your own — no phones, no looking it up. We'll begin properly in a few minutes.
1 · Warm up your brain
Write down two jobs people might have done on Teesside 100 years ago.
2 · True or false?
Circle T or F. Have a go even if you're not sure.
Middlesbrough grew because of iron and steel.T / F
Eston Hills had a mine in it.T / F
Ships used to be built on the River Tees.T / F
The Tees has always been clean — it was never polluted.T / F
3 · Your Teesside
Tick anything that's true for you:
- I've crossed the River Tees.
- I've seen the Transporter Bridge.
- I've walked Eston Hills, or been near them.
- I know someone who worked in industry — steel, ships or chemicals.
Pick one you ticked and tell us about it:
L1b · Your River, Your Home — Knowledge Organiser
Name:
Class:
Date:
Lesson learning outcomes
- Name 2 industries that grew up on the Tees
- Explain how Eston Hills (Walk 1) connects to the Tees
- Identify at least 2 personal connections to the Tees
The Tees through time
1825 – 1960s · The working riverStockton-Darlington Railway (1825, world's first passenger railway). Ironstone from Eston Hills (1850s) fed Middlesbrough's furnaces — earning the nickname Ironopolis. Ships built at Smith's Dock. Chemicals at Billingham. The Tees built modern Britain.
1960s – 2000s · DeclineYards closed (Smith's Dock 1986). Steel and chemical jobs lost. Tidal mud + pollution earned the Tees its grim "Tees stink" nickname. Identity blow.
2000s – today · RegenerationTees Barrage opens 1995 — stops the tidal mud, brings salmon back, opens a white-water course. Tees Valley Combined Authority, Tees Freeport, offshore wind at Teesworks.
Place → Industry (Tees pairs)
Eston HillsIronstone — mined from the 1850s.
MiddlesbroughIron + steel — "Ironopolis".
Smith's Dock (South Bank)Shipbuilding — closed 1986.
Wilton / BillinghamChemicals (ICI) — fertilisers, plastics.
Tees Barrage (Stockton)White-water leisure — opened 1995.
Teesworks (Redcar)Offshore wind hub — replacing closed steel.
The Walk 1 → Tees connection
Last term you walked past Eston Mine on the way to Eston Hills. That mine produced ironstone. That ironstone was carried down to Middlesbrough on the Tees, smelted into iron in furnaces along the river, and shipped to the world. Your walk last term and your trip this term are 2 miles apart and 175 years apart, but they are the same story.
Trip · Thu 10 Jul
Portrack Marsh — Tees Valley Wildlife Trust wetland reserve, beside the Tees Barrage in Stockton.
Two sessions, both led by Wildlife Trust educators: biology sampling (built around GCSE Biology specs) + a River Tees session (river features, wildlife, what lives there).
L1b · Your Work — Your River, Your Home
Name:
Pick the question that's right for you — or do all three if you can. Use the word banks and sentence starters to help.
Q1. Name two industries that grew up on the Tees. F
Word bank — pick twoiron & steel · shipbuilding · chemicals · white-water leisure
Two industries on the Tees were ________________ and ________________.
Q2. Explain how Eston Hills (Walk 1) connects to Middlesbrough's steel. M
You might useironstone · mine · furnaces · iron · the River Tees
Eston Hills had ________________. It was carried down to Middlesbrough, where it was turned into…
Q3. Argue: should Teesside be proud of its industrial past, or move on from it? Give one reason for each side. H
Teesside should be proud because…
But it should also move on because…
The examiner wants: one clear reason for EACH side — pros (identity, jobs, history, pride) and cons (pollution, closed industries, looking back not forward).
🌟 Finished? You're the Tees planner
One decision each:
KEEP — one thing about the Tees you'd never change:
CHANGE — one thing you'd fix or clean up:
BUILD — one new thing for the riverside:
L1b · Revision & Self-Quiz
Name:
Self-quiz · cover the answers
Q1. What was Eston Mine famous for?
Q2. What was Middlesbrough's 1800s nickname?
Q3. Name 2 industries that grew up on the Tees.
Q4. What year did the Stockton-Darlington Railway open?
Q5. What did Smith's Dock build?
Q6. What was ICI famous for?
Q7. When did the Tees Barrage open?
Q8. What was "the Tees stink"?
Q9. How does Eston Hills connect to Middlesbrough's steel?
Q10. Give one reason the Tees is cleaner today.
Memory hooks
1825: "Stockton-Darlington — first train, first time, eighteen-twenty-five." 🚂
Eston Hills → Middlesbrough: "Hill → ironstone → train → furnace → city." 🏔️➡️🏭
Tees stink → Tees Barrage: "1995 — the year the river got its dignity back." 🌊
Common mark-losers
- Calling Middlesbrough "Steel City" — that is Sheffield. Middlesbrough is "Ironopolis".
- Saying Eston had coal — it had ironstone. Coal was further west.
- Saying the Tees Barrage closed the river — it actually made it cleaner.
- Mixing up the eras — 1825 is railways, 1850s is iron, 1995 is the Barrage.