keystage 2 students in a lessonWelcome to the section for teaching history at KS2 where you will find masses of advice on how to make history both fun and satisfyingly challenging. You will be helped to design and plan an exciting primary history curriculum and taking into account the difficult areas of assessment and progression and mindful of the new focus on curriculum within OFSTED’s framework.

This is a tricky process at Key Stage 2. It is easy to lose continuity if you are not careful. You will be shown which skills and concepts are best developed in which contexts along with examples of key questions that have proved most effective in deepening learning. You also will be helped to make the most of history’s contribution to the whole curriculum by being shown cutting edge practice in the areas of cross-curricular history planning, literacy, thinking skills and creativity.

The site also offers a unique set of detailed lesson plans and resources for about 150 lessons which have been judged as outstanding by OFSTED.  These cover all the major topics linked to an outstanding medium-term planner which expertly hows how to combine the most significant content  with the development of conceptual understanding.

You will see below that these resources are constantly being added to , thereby ensuring that you have not only the latest and best advise but also the highest quality learning materials for your pupils.

top 10 history teaching
10 step guide to strengthening your history teaching

1. Ensure all topics are linked and logically sequenced At the planning stage make sure all topics are carefully linked…

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planning
Sequencing your KS2 history topics: are you doing it right?

Is there a right order for sequencing KS2 topics? Let’s start with a reality check. No research exists to show…

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tut
Ancient Egypt – end of unit quiz

Congratulations on completing your unit on Ancient Egypt! Now that you’ve explored this incredible ancient civilization, it’s time to put…

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assessment and progression
What should I be doing?

OFSTED’s recent report ( 2023) highlighted the following 5 key messages about assessment in primary history. Over the next few…

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leading
Getting your priorities right at the start of the year – KS2

September is always a good time to think through what you should be doing as history leader now that you’ve…

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early islamic civilisation
Early Islamic civilisation knowledge organiser – KS2

You are studying this topic so that you realise that a thousand years ago Baghdad was the largest city in…

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stonehenge
Keeping your teaching of Stonehenge up-to-date

Just when you thought you knew all there was to teach about Stonehenge suddenly a major discovery turns much of…

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9 highly effective retrieval activities that really help history to stick ..and show real historical understanding too!

To prevent retrieval activities simply resembling a random fact pub quiz  consider using the following , which I’m sure many…

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8 retrieval tasks that really work in history

This list is by no means exhaustive nor is it linked to just one key stage. You can think of…

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dorando
Ideas for assemblies on the Olympics: Dorando’s story

At both KS1 and KS2 it would be good to focus on one individual and see the extent to which…

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pyramids
Ancient Egypt – SMART task – Puzzle corner: Mystery of the pyramids in the desert

This thinking skills task has been designed to encourage pupils to work out plausible answers to the puzzling question, one…

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pyramid 321
The mystery of why the pyramids were built in the desert is finally solved

Many of you teaching Ancient Egypt in depth as part of a broader topic on ancient civilizations will , no…

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olympic rings
Teaching Olympic games in 2024

Are you planning to teach about the Olympic games which are coming to Paris in July 2024? If so you…

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victorian video
Closing the circle: making sure you have an exciting, ‘fit for purpose’ learning product in your KS1 and 2 history topics

I have often thought that we don’t always invest as much time in considering the final product of a unit’s…

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britain during ww2 knowledge organiser
Britain during the Second World War knowledge organiser – KS2

In this topic you will learn why Britain went to war and was threatened with invasion by Hitler’s Germany during…

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shang dynasty
Shang dynasty knowledge organiser – KS2

You are studying the Shang dynasty because it was the first Chinese civilization in ancient times and one for which…

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Victorian cities
History as problem solving

Pupils solve problems when they study mathematics. They solve problems in science lessons. So why not in history? Perhaps it’s…

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Shang dynasty – KQ1 – Why do YOU think the Shang dynasty MIGHT be important?

Lively introductory session which creatively gets pupils to find things out for themselves and check their understanding using bells and…

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shang oracle bone
Shang dynasty – KQ2 – How different was the Shang society to other civilizations at the time?

Using the expert/envoy technique to research and disseminate information from dossiers on a range of different aspects of Shang society,…

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Shang dynasty – KQ3 – What can we tell about the Shang dynasty from the objects that have survived?

Here the focus is on developing enquiry-led learning which is as much about asking valid historical questions as it is…

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shang tomb
Shang dynasty – KQ4 – Why has our understanding of the Shang dynasty changed so much in the last 100 years?

Opening up the tricky concept of interpretations of the past, this session enables pupils to grasp that history is always…

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shang postcard
Shang dynasty – KQ5 – What was distinctive about the Shang people’s beliefs?

Having used a fast-paced Information Run activity to acquire the key points about Shang religion pupils are set the task…

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di xin
Shang dynasty – KQ6 – If the Shang dynasty was so well organised why did come to an end after just 600 years and what makes it so special for people today?

Pupils compare 5 different simple textbook explanations, which they colour code, before building their own explanation, based on what seems…

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ancient Egypt knowledge organiser
Ancient Egypt and other ancient civilisations knowledge organiser – KS2

You are learning about ancient Egypt, because it is the best known and most popular of the early civilisations that…

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crime and punishment
Crime and punishment knowledge organiser – KS2

You are studying this topic in history because it helps you to understand how things have changed,(and have stayed roughly…

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black and british knowledge organiser
Black and British knowledge organiser – KS2

You are studying this topic in the hope that you will discover how Black British is an important part of…

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victorian britain knowledge organiser
Victorian Britain knowledge organiser – KS2

You are learning about Victorian Britain because this was a really significant period of huge change in industry and technology,…

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mayan civilisation knowledge organiser
Mayan civilisation knowledge organiser – KS2

The height of Maya civilization came at the time when the Saxons were fighting the Vikings in Britain, but it…

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benin featured image
Benin knowledge organiser – KS2

Benin was a very important civilization, not just within Africa but in world history too. An important part of what…

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top 10 history teaching
Teaching interpretations – top 10 key messages

In a recent article in the Historical Association’s Primary History publication the ever-reliable Tim Lomas attempted to identify the top…

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vikings fi
Vikings knowledge organiser – KS2

Probably one of the most captivating of KS2 history topics, the Vikings present wonderful opportunities to capitalise on pupils’ fascination…

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anglo saxons knowledge organiser
Anglo-Saxons knowledge organiser – KS2

During this period England emerged as a recognisable nation and Christianity became established. The recent coronation of Charles III is…

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Keeping up to-date with teaching of the Maya – Archaeologists uncover scoreboard for ancient Maya ball game

In the Archaeological Zone of Chichén Itzá, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a…

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golden threads
Golden threads or Gordian knot? How to weave first order historical concepts into the fabric of your history curriculum

Talking about ‘first-order’ historical concepts, by which I mean ideas such as empire and invasion, civilization, power and authority has…

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Keeping up-to-date with developments in primary history – February 2023

Every few years, the Primary wing of the Historical Association carry out a survey of primary schools to see what…

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Adapting Keystage history lessons – FAQs

1. Why are lessons still called ‘outstanding’? I am often asked how the lessons section of the site should be…

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ancient greece knowledge organiser
Ancient Greece knowledge organiser – KS2

In your study of Ancient Greece you will learn how a civilization that flourished over 2500 years ago still influences…

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ancient egypt
Grasping the chronology nettle

Everyone knows that chronology is one of the key historical concepts pupils need to learn, and yet in very few…

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Running timebox – First and foremost

Why Timebox teams? First and foremost, Timebox Teams should be fun. Behind the serious intent of improving pupils’ chronological knowledge…

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Timebox - KS2 Pack
Timebox – KS2 Pack

Mention the teaching of chronology to most infant teachers and their eyes glaze over. Their experience is that it is…

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Roman Britain knowledge organiser – KS2

The arrival of the Romans to Britain and their occupation for over 350 years marks a turning point in the…

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stone age knowledge organiser
Stone Age to Iron Age knowledge organiser – KS2

The earliest known humans arrived in these lands around 900,000 years ago. During this time there were huge changes: the…

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Building vocabulary to help pupils’ historical understanding. My 100 top KS2 words

Word lists are all very well but do we carefully plan when words are acquired and then applied in a…

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Common assessment tasks in history at Key Stage 2

Many colleagues who have been sceptical about assessing history at Key Stage 2 have been won over by this simple…

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assessment and progression
Assessment for learning in Primary history

Assessment for Learning is much-vaunted and many-faceted.  If we break down what it means in its constituent parts, many of…

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keystage 2 history
Principles of good assessment in history at Key Stage 2

As OFSTED reports have pointed out for many years, assessment in history is not strong in most schools and the…

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Judging pupils’ work at Key Stage 2

Teachers’ failure to carry out any useful diagnostic, formative or summative assessment in history at Key Stage 2  has come…

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keystage 2 history
Target setting in history at Key Stage 2

With the emphasis that the Primary Strategy places on Assessment for Learning and the sharing of objectives, it would seem…

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assessment and progression
General advice regarding progression in history at Key Stage 2

A definitive paper explaining exactly what I think you should be doing in  the realms of progression to help ensure…

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assessment and progression
Progression by strand in history at KS2: a key element of deep dives

One of the most important tasks that a history subject leader carries out is that of helping colleagues to build…

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