I get a lot of enquiries about Keystage history, largely from teachers who want to know what to expect from the site,prior to purchasing a subscription. Most of the site’s content is clearly visible of course: just click on the menu bar at the top of the Home page and the whole site unfurls by key stage and by category. The most popular searches are usually to do with planning and the lessons, but increasingly OFSTED’ s deep dives have led colleagues to explore the detailed EXPERT advice on progression and assessment which they simply can’t find elsewhere.
What they can’t see so obviously and immediately are the principles behind the pedagogy that drives the site. This is what subscribers value the most. They know what they are buying into and they like what they see. The quotation I have used in the title sums up our approach to planning history sessions:
We learn by being excited, not by being told.
We also learn by being actively involved in a stimulating enquiry not by covering the content because we are told to. Hence the site does not have worksheets, or wordsearches or fill in the blanks or even comprehension questions. We want pupils to be active, to find out for themselves within a well-thought out framework of preparation, support and review.
