Blog
How effective was Anglo-Saxon justice: what should we do with Edgar?
Pupils work in groups to create a series of short dramatic enactments, each of which illustrates a way of keeping…
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Making sure your KS2 pupils know the real reasons for the Mayan collpase: latest research
The Maya’s apparently sudden decline in the 9th century AD has long been a subject for historical debate. Now scientists…
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Top 10 Command words for primary history activities
A simple way of ensuring that your pupils are thinking historically is to focus their activities using key command words….
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OFSTED looking for clear progression models in history
Central to much of the discussion in OFSTED about focussing more on subjects and the curriculum is the issue of…
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Powerful personal memories of Remembrance Day
As we all remembered the fallen yesterday, I had particular reason to think of family loss. In the Great War…
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How did the Viking fleets keep afloat on their voyages?
The unsurprising answer is TAR. The Vikings knew how to produce it on an industrial scale, making batches of 200-300…
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Which cartoon best explains the paradox of the Nazi Soviet pact?
The Unholy Alliance: why on earth did Hitler and Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact when they clearly hated each other?…
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Great blog on narrative v analytical writing at A level
If any of you are feeling that the A level history markschemes don’t make much sense you will draw consideable…
Read MoreHas Mary Beard got it right about TV history?
Mary Beard has sparked controversy yet again , this time about the way history is portrayed on TV. Too many…
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How have recent excavations changed our view of the Vikings? Key Question 4
Using the Mantle of the Expert approach, pupils help a confused museum curator to write high quality captions for 11…
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Teaching Mary Anning as a significant person at KS1
Many of you will know that I have been trying to wean schools off teaching JUST Florence Nightingale, and have…
Read MoreNew explanation as to why Mayan civilization collapsed- my KS2 kids can do better
Below is a recent short explanation as to why the Mayan civilization collapsed. I think that KS2 pupils can do…
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7 best ways to make sure that your history curriculum is OFSTED 2019-ready
There has been a lot of coverage recently of OFSTED’s intention to focus more on the quality, range and impact…
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Commemorating centenary of ending of World War One: Using fiction to teach about remembrance at KS1 and 2
Fiction provides opportunities for children to explore what life might have been like for people living during the war and,…
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Why Learn History (When It’s Already on Your Phone)
Why Learn History (When It’s Already on Your Phone). Sam Wineburg’s just-published book in which he makes it clear that the…
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Lynching in the US in the 20th century 1919-54
Crammed into this very active lesson are: slow reveal of an arresting image; interesting information about the role of the…
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How good is your teaching and learning policy?
So primary schools and secondary history departments are happy to vaunt their teaching and learning policies. I applaud the fact that…
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Why did they build so many churches in medieval times?
This simple task starts with pupils exploring and then prioritising a range of accessible ideas in order to arrive at…
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Great short video on how Elizabeth I manipulated her image
Great video lasting just 6 mins during which an expert curator decodes the messages behind medals and miniatures. Really interesting….
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GCSE History: Guide to planning and teaching Edexcel 9-1 GCSE
Lots of thinking has taken place to decide the best way to structure the new Edexcel 9-1 GCSE history course. The…
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Gender issues when selecting your significant person to teach in history at KS1
There has always been a tendency towards gender stereotyping when selecting which ‘famous’ men and women to teach at KS1….
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Hitler Youth AS/A2 task
This smart task uses one of the most frequently misunderstood Hitler Youth posters. By taking students through a step-by-step deconstruction…
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What were the real reasons why William organised the Domesday survey?
In this active lesson pupils start by speculating possible motives (given a couple of clues) and then work in groups…
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Great new read for your incoming Y7 pupils studying Battle of Hastings
You know how keen your Y7 pupils are when they arrive, so why not strike while the iron’s hot and…
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AS SMART TASK Vietnam; why was Rolling Thunder ultimately unsuccessful?
When by the end of 1965 US pilots had flown over 24,000 sortie missions and wiped out 355 of North…
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Why was Anne Boleyn executed? Which of these seems most plausible?
In this short task students work out for themselves the key inter-related reasons why Anne Boleyn was executed. Using the…
Read MoreUsing living graphs in history at KS4 and 5: don’t let the activity replace the thinking and long-term recall
I have long been a fan of using living graphs, especially to help students appreciate extent and speed of change…
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10 commandments for successful source work at A-level
Although it grieves me to say it, these strategies may not have much to do with better teaching or understanding…
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Outstanding medium-term planner for Vikings
This KS2 Vikings planner, judged outstanding by an OFSTED history inspector now links to all the fully-resourced outstanding lessons and…
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Teaching Anglo-Saxons: Alfred and the Danes at KS2
Many of you have kindly written to say how much your pupils have enjoyed the lesson where they have to…
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New resource for teaching evacuation at KS2 using sources critically
If you are teaching about evacuation World War Two, possibly as part of our innovative Thematic unit ‘Beyond Face vale’…
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Causes of World War One: problems of evidence. Why is it so difficult to work out who caused the First World War? Smart Task
This is a very short 5 minute warm-up activity to help students get a feel for the partisan sources that…
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On the move: teaching the theme of migration at KS3 Smart Task
CONTEXT When looking at movement and settlement as a theme you will clearly want to look at: • the reasons…
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International relations overview 1914-2004 using a piece of COAL Smart Task
Starter Start the lesson dramatically by thumping a lump of coal on the desk. Explain that this lump of coal…
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The execution of Charles I – advising a film director: a study in source analysis and evaluation
This lesson uses a set of 4 contemporary images and a secondary narrative account to examine how the author seems…
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Useful resource on Peterloo massacre KS3
Really useful short video on Peterloo , ‘Manchester’s Tiananmen square’. Presented as a graphic novel, the visuals are really clear…
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Teaching Anglo Saxons & Vikings Outstanding lessons for KS2 history
The National Curriculum has afforded separate status for individual units of work on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Whilst this may…
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Vikings – KQ1 – What image do we have of the Vikings?
This two part session gives the topic on the Vikings a really active start. Following an introduction to the Vikings…
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Vikings – KQ2 – Why have the Vikings gained such a bad reputation?
Having explored the nature of the stereotypical Viking image in the first session, it is now time to examine the…
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Vikings – KQ3 – How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get?
This task encapsulates the struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in an engaging way that really makes pupils think…
Read MoreVikings – KQ3 Additional Resource – How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get?
This article supports KQ3 The first raids early 790s 1. In 789 three ships from Norway landed in Dorset. The…
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Just how great was Alfred? Can we beat the BBC website? Anglo-Saxons Key Question 5
In this outstanding lesson, pupils are asked to critique and then improve the BBC children’s website entry for Alfred. But…
Read MoreVikings – KQ4 – How have recent excavations changed our view of the Vikings?
Evidence of Viking occupation Using the Mantle of the Expert approach, pupils help a confused museum curator to write high…
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Vikings – KQ4 Supporting information – The invisible Vikings?
Key Question 4 address the key issue of evidence to support, or contradict, the idea that the Vikings were simply…
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Too many Cooks? Too pale, stale and male to be worth studying?
Australians are currently deep in debate about the enormous cost involved in yet another celebration of Cook’s voyages to Australia….
Read More£2.2. million to be spent on time-saving curriculum materials in hist, geog and science
Sounds great doesn’t it. Even better when you realise that the money is to fund school-based initiatives rather than top-down…
Read MoreUsing History Hits as a starter at KS3 and GCSE
Nearly all of us have asked pupils to jot down 10 things about a topic as a useful starter to…
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Early Islamic civilization – KQ1 – Why should we study the early Islamic civilizations in school today? SMART TASK
One of the misfortunes of a long history of stereotyping and conflict between Islam and the West is that it…
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Early Islamic civilization – KQ2 – How was the Islamic civilization able to spread so far, so quickly?
In this demanding but important overview session pupils have to work out from clues the key reasons for Islam’s growth…
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Early Islamic civilization – KQ3 – What can we learn about early Islamic civilization from the way they set up the capital at Baghdad?
Pupils are first asked to design a picture showing what Baghdad would have looked like 1,000 years ago. It is…
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