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.

bells and whistles
Ancient Greece – KQ3 Part 4 – Consequences of the battle of Marathon: Bells and whistles – Smart task

Really fun lesson called bells and whistles in which team have to make the appropriate sound depending on whether the…

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parthenon
Ancient Greece – KQ4 Part 1 – role play on building the Parthenon

This full lesson is a role-play activity looking at Greek democracy in the context of the rebuilding of the Parthenon….

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stoneage
Top Tips for teaching….Stone Age to Iron Age

Stone Age to Iron Age The British Isles has been populated by humans for 750.000 years but only became an…

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anglo saxon
What have the Anglo-Saxons ever done for us? Some KS2 answers

If you asked Michael Wood what the Anglo-Saxons ever did for us he would give a very full and erudite…

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Making Ostracons
Ancient Greece – KQ4 Part 2 – Making Greek democracy come to life – a ‘smashing’ lesson

This is a really fun, practical lesson involving smashed pottery, writing in Ancient Greek through black wax and deciphering each other’s…

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sparta
Ancient Greece – KQ4 Part 3 – Would you have preferred to live in Athens or Sparta? Comparing life in Athens and Sparta: a short smart task

One way of bringing home to pupils what was so special about life in Ancient Athens is to compare it…

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Making Ostracons
Ancient Greece – KQ4 Part 2 Additional information – Ancient Greek democracy. Or what links Red painted rope, an idiot ,and piloting the ship.

This article supports the fully resourced outstanding lesson on democracy that can be found here Democracy is made from two…

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greek olympics vase
Ancient Greece – KQ5 Part 1 – What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from a study of their Olympics?

We thought we would offer you a range of different cameos showing how the history of the Olympics could be…

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Ancient Greece – KQ5 Part 2 – What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from their interest in the theatre?

This key question is divided into two distinct parts, starting with Part 1 – the Olympics. This has its own…

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Ancient Greece – KQ6 Part 1 – Under the Cloth: sorting the muddled collection. Is it all Greek to you?

Step 1 To introduce the notion of the Greeks having a major influence on our lives today use the activity…

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Children working in Victorian factorie
Keeping up-to-date with your teaching of Victorian Britain at KS2

We often talk to children about the benefits that brought so many people into industrial towns in the first half…

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Push or Pull? What were the real reasons why the Saxons invaded? SMART TAKS KS2

A fun thinking skills activity in which pupils infer from visual clues before moving on to analyse a range of…

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ofsted logo
Expert advice on local history at KS1 and KS2 by OFSTED lead inspector

Ex-subject lead for history at OFSTED has recently written this very helpful booklet for English Heritage. A great place to start…

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maya now
Guidance Non Western Civilisations: Teaching Islam/Maya/Benin

This new topic is perhaps one of the most demanding in the Key Stage 2 curriculum. Admittedly Benin and Maya…

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latin in english
Ancient Greece – KQ6 Part 2 – Short KS2 task on the Ancient Greek legacy: language

This is a fun activity looking at the contribution the Ancient Greeks have made to our language. Great for literacy. …

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don't do it mother
Teaching Primary History: Life in Britain 1930-1945 at Key Stage 2

Inexplicably axed by Gove from the 2014 curriculum, my advice is to carry on teaching this highly successful unit focusing…

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Sophocles2
Ancient Greece – KQ6 Part 3 – How Great is your Greek?

Pupils have to select a team of 11 Great Greeks. They do this by preparing and then evaluating 14 different…

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greek alphabet
Ancient Greece – KQ6 Part 4 – What did the Greeks do for us? Evaluating the video

This task puts pupils in the position as evaluators of a BBC film: BBC Bitesize – Watch: What did the…

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victorian photo
Using a Victorian census to discover what life was like 100 years ago SMART TASK

There are 4 separate ways of approaching this topic, each becoming increasingly more ambitious. Stage 1 only is featured below. …

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boudiccas revolt
ICT and Film in history at Key Stage 2

You may think it surprising that film and ICT appear together and not separately. Wit hthe advent of digitisation and…

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Strategies for using artefacts in teaching history at KS2

Nobody would seriously doubt the value of using artefacts in history at Key Stage 1, but at Key Stage 2…

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Teaching Interpretations at Key Stage 2

Although challenging, teaching interpretations in history at KS2 level is immensely rewarding when you see the ‘penny drop’ in pupils’…

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Creativity KS2
Teaching enquiry in history at Key Stage 2

You will hear a lot spoken about historical enquiry, but very little written down and easily accessible. Given its central…

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keystage 2 history
Fit for purpose history teaching strategies at Key Stage 1 and 2

As primary schools have been so heavily criticised by OFSTED for failing to select strategies that are fit for purpose,…

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keystage 2 history
What makes an outstanding history lesson at KS2?

With very little national guidance now coming from OFSTED by way of revisions to the subject-specific criteria for outstanding primary…

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teaching
The teaching process in history at KS2

Key Stage 2 history teaching is often unfairly caricatured as a teacher telling interested pupils lots of interesting stories: fun…

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planning
Long-term planning at Key Stage 2

The advent of the new curriculum for history marked the most significant change in your school’s history planning for over…

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planning
Short-term planning in history at KS2

As a rule, this site does not recommend the publication of short-term planning, preferring instead to focus on very detailed…

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literacy
History and literacy at Key Stage 2

Although OFSTED still points out that opportunities for exploiting the link between history and literacy are still being overlooked, the…

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keystage 2 history
Views of learners in history at Key Stage 2

There has been very little published research on the views of KS2 pupils on their history work, other than lots…

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Creativity KS2
The learning process in history at KS2

Given that this site specialises in giving practical support to busy teachers and subject leaders, you may be surprised to…

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viking boat
Are we fair to the Vikings? A question of interpretation. SMART TASK KS2

Pupils are shown a range of stereotypical images of Vikings, using slides 2 and 3. This should be used to…

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Anglo-Saxons map
Testing a simple hypothesis about where the early Anglo-Saxons lived and how we know

This ambitious but engaging lesson asks children to test some simple hypotheses about where the early Saxons settled.  They start…

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Using Fiction: teaching Stone Age to Bronze Age in history at KS2

Using Boy with the Bronze Axe by Kathleen Fidler to help you teach Stone Age to Bronze Age and Skara…

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Teaching Local History at Key Stage 2

So, where do we start if we haven’t a clue about Local History? Unlike all other areas of study Local…

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50
50 imaginative learning activities to use in history at Key Stage 2

Currently these top 50 imaginative ideas are just listed in alphabetical order with a brief description of each, cross-referenced to…

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roman road
Why did the Romans spend so much time building roads? KS2 short task

From Diamond 4 to ‘Roving Mike’ and kids’ wiki. This simple short task gives groups of pupils, 3 per group,…

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Why did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?

If Britain was only a few days away from defeat in August 1940 how on earth did she win the…

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top 10 history teaching
Top ten ingredients of a good KS2 post-1066 thematic unit.

Teaching Crime and Punishment as a post-1066 thematic unit at KS2 For a while now, a number of schools have…

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top 10 history teaching
Thinking words in primary history: my top 10

Those of you who have used a lot of the lessons on the site will know only too well that…

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Pupils in the field excavating Roman remains
Roles of learners in history at Key Stage 2

One of the best ways of exciting young children in history is to put them in role.  Dorothy Heathcote’s approach,…

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20
20 creative products for history Key Stage 2

This section accompanies the ones on teaching and learning approaches.  It offers you a few ideas you may not have…

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Vikings Illustration
Vikings: What were they like?

This lesson gives the topic on the Vikings a really active start. Pupils are placed in role as Saxon spies…

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Replica pot from TTS
Ancient Greece: Short task on using Greek pots

What can I do with just one Greek pot in the resource cupboard? Collaborative and creative storyboarding At the core…

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Making ostracons from Ancient Greece
Imaginative learning activities at Key Stage 2

This section accompanies the ones on teaching and learning approaches. It offers you a few ideas you may not have…

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Mary Rose
Why on earth did the Mary Rose, pride of the Tudor fleet, sink so quickly under the nose of Henry VIII himself? Home study option SMART TASK

A tightly structured series of activities on the reasons why the Mary Rose mysteriously sank which incorporates: a. A history…

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If life was so hard in Victorian cities, why did Wilf move his family there?

If life was so hard for families in the towns why did so many leave the countryside and move to…

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The mystery of the empty Saxon grave

This highly engaging lesson places pupils in the role of detectives. After a short briefing they have to work out…

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ww2 evacuation
Eric the evacuee

Extending the BBC website on Eric the evacuee The BBC children’s history section has been in touch with the school…

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Is this what Dickens' London looked like?
Primary History: Teaching Victorian Britain Key Stage 2

Astonishingly, at a stroke, Gove removed the Victorians from the KS2 history curriculum where it had reigned supreme for decades….

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