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.

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. …

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Subscribers only: You need to be logged in to view this content in full. Please login or register
Read More
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…

Read More
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. …

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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’…

Read More
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…

Read More
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,…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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,…

Read More
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…

Read More
Vikings
Teaching Anglo-Saxons & Vikings for Key Stage 2

The current National Curriculum has afforded separate status for individual units of work on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Whilst this…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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,…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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…

Read More
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….

Read More
Forward planning in history at Key Stage 2

This section ties in with the others on prioritising and monitoring and the message is basically the same.  You need…

Read More
keystage 2 history
Prioritising your work as history leader

When there is so little non-contact time to lead history, it is crucial that you spend your time wisely. This…

Read More
monitoring
Monitoring in history at Key Stage 2

You will, at some stage, need to monitor standards and the quality of learning in history.  The quality of teaching…

Read More
data
Using data to improve history teaching and learning at Key Stage 2

Given that there is no subject-specific data on history at Key Stage 2 this might seem a strange inclusion on…

Read More
keystage 2 history
Raising attainment in history at Key Stage 2

The prospect of raising attainment across the whole key stage is quite daunting, especially when you consider how little non-contact…

Read More
keystage 2 history
Self-evaluation in history at Key Stage 2

With the emphasis of school improvement and OFSTED inspection now firmly placed on self-evaluation this has become one of the…

Read More
keystage 2 history
Personalised learning in history at KS 2

This is certainly one of the key areas to be focusing on in the next few years and lies at…

Read More
keystage 2 history
Gender issues in history at Key Stage 2

It is hard to think of a teaching and learning strategy that one would use with boys.  We all know…

Read More
gifted and talented
Gifted and talented pupils in history at Key Stage 2

Much has been written in general terms about identifying and then catering for able pupils in history.  OFSTED and others…

Read More
keystage 2 history
Key motivational factors in history teaching at Key Stage 2

The essence of what appeals to pupils can often be summed up by the words, People, Puzzle and Point. Children…

Read More
S.E.N. in history at Key Stage 1 and 2

By inclusion we mean three things here: setting suitable learning challenges, responding to pupils’ diverse needs, and overcoming potential barriers…

Read More
keystage 2 history
APP in history: where are we now? Some key questions answered

NB. This section is no longer current, so please don’t base your action on its contents. It has been left…

Read More
Ancient Greece
How to teach Ancient Greece to Key Stage 2

To all intents and purposes, the ancient Greek planning and all the outstanding lessons fit just as perfectly with the…

Read More