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Improving history in your primary school: a short cameo of a success story

So what does effective leadership of primary history look like? A case study When Lara took over as history subject…

Florence Nightingale and her legacy – 200 years since her birth, on 12 May 1820

Historians have praised Florence Nightingale on the 200th anniversary of her birth, and said her legacy has “never been more…

Using quadrants to answers exam questions at GCSE and A level

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Faced with an exam question such as How far do you agree with…

GCSE history: Answering the question set , not the one they would prefer to answer.

Many of you teaching GCSE will be familiar with the issue. Your students answer the question they think the examiner…

Teaching Toys to Key Stage 1

Toys is an obvious topic to select for infants. Not only is it appealing , at least initially, it is…

KS1 Medium term planner: Toys through time (Term 1 or 2 of Y1)

This is one of the earliest topics to be taught at EYFS/KS1 following on from Myself. As we know this…

Historical Association survey of secondary history provision 2019- few surprises and some disappointing statistics

Last week saw the publication of the annual survey into secondary history produced by the Historical Association. Obviously reflecting the…

Toys – KQ1 – What are our toys like today?

Because the topic is aimed at children beginning key stage 1, it is a good idea to spend more time…

Key ideas in primary history

When we are teaching 11 subjects it is often difficult to catch the essence of each. If we’re not careful…

Toys – KQ2 – What are other people’s toys like?

This session comprises two very simple tasks: matching objects to the young children who would usually play with them, followed…

Great learning activity: Prove it! See examples for Scott of the Antarctic, Man on the Moon, Tudor theatre, Grace Darling, Louis Braille

One of the most effective learning activities which you will find in a small number of the outstanding lessons is…

Remembering VE Day

In these difficult times when schools are not in session it will not be possible to commemorate the ending of…

Creating your own timelines at KS2: one school’s recent find.

Charley Chanter of HertfordHeath primary school has just brought this Timeline making package to my attention He wrote:.I have been…

Rotten apple or …. How should we portray Dyer’s motivation in the Amritsar massacre?

This enquiry asks students to look critically at the depiction of the massacre in the film Gandhi as a way…

At last a way forward with KS2 assessment for history that will work for my school

Even though we will have had the National Curriculum for history ( albeit in different guises) for nearly 30 years,…

How to assess pupils’ progress in KS2 history. At last the answer that not only works but will work for you too.

Even though we will have had the National Curriculum for history ( albeit in different guises) for nearly 30 years,…

Teaching American West at Key Stage 4

Schools have been teaching the American West as part of the SHP course for over 30 years. I introduced it…

Teaching the History of Medicine

As you all know, the trick with teaching this course is to marry a strong contextual knowledge with an understanding…

We learn by being excited not by being told; abiding principle of Keystage history

I get a lot of enquiries about Keystage history, largely from teachers who want to know what to expect from…

Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach

Are you teaching the right things about Mary Seacole to your children? 10 things to be sure to teach: 1….

More thoughts on primary history OFSTED deep dives

Recently Matthew Purves, the Deputy Director for Schools, set out OFSTED latest thinking on deep dives in primary schools. He…

KS1 Medium term planner: The sinking of the Titanic Y2

This topic provides an exciting addition to the usual famous events taught at KS1. Not only is there a clear,…

Did you know there were over 1000 Roman sites in England and Wales?

The numerous discoveries of Roman finds, often by private metal detectors, have revealed more than 1,000 Roman sites in England…

Teaching about Roman villas at KS2- some new finds in Gloucestershire. Should the housing development now go ahead – arguments for and against?

Those of you teaching about Roman villas at KS2, maybe even using the outstanding lesson on this website, Is this…

OFSTED using frighteningly slender evidence to judge history at KS1 and 2

According to today’s Guradian report an eight-year-old boy was meeting the Ofsted inspector for the first time. “What do you remember…

What is history? – Key stage 2

In the classrooms of some non-specialist Key Stage 2 teachers, history is still presented as the story of the past….

What would OFSTED say about history in your school? What needs to improve? A sample recent report gives an insight

After identifying a number of positive features of the history curriculum and history teaching the OFSTED inspector carrying out a…

Don’t led OFSTED’s unrealistic expectations of you grind you down until they’ve given you the detailed training guidance help you need and deserve.

So you didn’t study history yourself beyond the age of 14, you have been leading the subject for just two…

Titanic – KQ1 – Launching the Titanic enquiry, drawing on pupils’ prior knowledge

What do we already know about the Titanic and what can we work out from a picture? This lesson’s activities…

Teaching Scott of the Antarctic to Key Stage 1

Those of you who are thinking that this choice of famous person seems to presage a return to an Our Island…

KS1 Medium Term Planner – Man’s First Moon Landing Y2

The current history curriculum at KS1 asks schools to provide a little more coherence in their choice of famous people…

Titanic – KQ2 – What was so special about life on the Titanic?

What was so special about life on board the Titanic? and was it the same for everyone? In this enquiry…

Titanic – KQ3 – How could the unsinkable Titanic sink?

This Y2 lesson takes pupils understanding beyond that of knowing what happened to the Titanic to work out why it…

Moon Landing – KQ1 – Has man ever been to the moon and how can we know for sure?

Varied introduction to the Moon Landing topic with pupils actively involved in sequencing, speculating and then the killer activity called…

KS1 History Planner for Scott of the Antarctic topic

Medium term planning and planner for Scott of the Antarctic KS1 This topic has been designed for Term 3 of…

Grace Darling – KQ1 – Setting up the enquiry – What did Grace do that made her famous …and why is she remembered today?

This is the first lesson on an enquiry into Grace Darling: what she did, and why she was famous. The…

Titanic – KQ4 – How should we film the sinking of the Titanic?

Stephen Spielberg has asked for a historically accurate poster for a new film he is planning on the sinking of…

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ1 – Who on earth is this famous person?

This fun first lesson on Scott of the Antarctic using the slow reveal technique of an iconic image to enable…

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Grace Darling – KQ2 – Why did Grace Darling act in the way she did?

An active lesson in which pupils generate adjectives and then use a Diamond-4 ranking activity, followed by hot seating, to…

Moon Landing – KQ2 – Why did the astronauts risk their lives going to the moon?

This session for KS1 children comprises three distinct activities. Activity 1 – Story telling Activity 2 – Diamond 4 Activity…

Moon Landing – KQ3 – How were they able to get to the moon and back safely?

This lesson focuses on how the astronauts were able to get to the moon and back safely. There are 2…

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ2 – How did Scott get to the South Pole and what happened then?

You can use this task on Scott’s journey to the South Pole in a number of ways: as a simple…

Grace Darling – KQ3 – Did Grace Darling really carry out the brave rescue on her own?

This Year 1 lesson on historical interpretations starts with a stark comparison of 2 images of the rescue showing very…

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ2b -Scott of the Antarctic: From sequencing to Living graph Key question

This activity enabled children to see how certain events had a positive or a negative effect on Scott’s expedition to…

Moon Landing – KQ4 – What did they do on the moon?

This lesson uses differentiated resources as a starting point to help children access the detail of man’s first steps on…

Scott of the Antarctic – KQ3 -Why did Scott risk his life going to the South Pole?

The concept of an intrepid explorer may not be completely alien to even the youngest children as the media does…

Grace Darling – KQ4 – How do we know about Grace Darling’s actions which happened so long ago?

There are two distinct elements to this session. Firstly, pupils develop a sense of period and of evidence by thinking…

Titanic – KQ5 – Why weren’t more people saved from the Titanic?

In this problem-solving activity, pupils have to speculate, using a stimulus image and then evaluate a range of given reasons…

Moon Landing – KQ5 – Would you take the Golden Ticket and travel to the moon?

This lesson follows on from lessons introducing the reasons why men first went to the moon, what they did when…

Grace Darling – KQ5 – How did sea rescue improve as a result of Grace Darling’s story?

This session comprises 2 principal activities: matching descriptions of lifeboats to time periods to deepen pupils’ sense of change, continuity…

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