Keystage history

Great new GCSE Crime and Punishment resource

Some of the world’s first police mugshots have been revealed showing criminals caught more than 150 years ago, including the…

Ancient Greece – KQ1 Part 1 – How can we possibly know so much about the Ancient Greeks who lived over 2,500 years ago?

Any study of ancient Greek society must begin with an appreciation of the physical features of Greece. Landform and climate…

Only 1 in 50 children can spot fake news-teach them history

According to a survey published today only 1 in 50 primary pupils have sharp enough critical skills to detect fake…

Ancient Greece – KQ1 Part 2 – Theseus and the Minotaur: Is there any evidence for the legend?

This KS2 smart task places pupils in the role of detectives trying to prove that the legend of Theseus and…

Ancient Greece – KQ1 Part 2 – Background information

This short article provides some background information to support your teaching of Key Question 1 Part 2. Set the lesson…

Ancient Greece – KQ2 Part 1 – What can we work out about everyday life in Ancient Athens?

There are three distinct parts to Key Question 2 but each centrally based around the need for pupils to use…

Ancient Greece – KQ2 Part 2 – Ancient Greek vases: the answer lies on the pot

This KS2 history lesson, in which the decoration of a Greek pot is slowly revealed, features two cracking activities designed…

Ancient Greece – KQ2 Part 3 – What was life like for women in Ancient Greece?

This simple lesson on life for women in Ancient Greece, based around a PowerPoint presentation, makes an excellent contribution to…

Ancient Greece – KQ3 Part 1 – Why was Athens able to be so strong in the 5th and 6th century BC?

As well as recapping Athens’ natural advantages (coastline to trade by sea, expand into colonies and capture slaves) and their…

Ancient Greece – KQ3 Part 2 – The Battle of Marathon. A history mystery

This lesson on the Battle of Marathon makes a major contribution to pupils’ thinking skills. They are presented with a…

Ancient Greece – KQ3 Part 3 – comparing six contrasting interpretations of the original Marathon run

Interesting session comparing six contrasting interpretations of the original Marathon run, followed by analysis of which to believe and understanding…

Ancient Greece – KQ3 Part 3 – Additional Information – 10 Things Your Pupils Need To Know About Pheidippides ’Marathon’ Run

1. Herodotus makes no mention of the run from Marathon to Athens The principal source for the battle of Marathon…

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…

Excellent short video on Hardwick house for your enquiry on Tudor homes

Although designed for GCSE students i have watched the 3 minute video a number of times and its perfect for…

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….

Great new activity on Florence Nightingale- Dear Producer

One of the great challenges of teaching KS1 history is to avoid the pitfall of turning history into just stories…

When outstanding is not outstanding

Ofsted’s director of corporate strategy, Luke Tryl, said yesterday: “What we can’t tell is if the levels of education in…

At last OFSTED is seeing sense with its lesson observations

For 7 of the most miserable years of my professional life, I had to carry out OFSTED inspections. Not because…

KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed

You have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles,…

How to get high quality written answers from your KS2 pupils

As we all know, developing pupils’ extended written answers requires structures preparation. Pupils need to develop their own thinking on…

Gove’s reply to my letter criticising his inane proposals for NC history,sent via my MP

You might be interested in Gove’s response to my criticism of the new NC proposals, sent via my local MP….

Gove’s attacks on ‘infantilised’ history teaching: sign of desperate man

Gove ridiculous lampooning of a couple of Russell Tarr and the Historical Associations’s suggested learning activities for history has all…

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…

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…

Using data to improve history teaching and learning at Key Stage 1

Given that there is no subject-specific data on history at KS1 this might seem a strange inclusion on the site. …

History teachers take lead in helping pupils spot fake news

Learning to identify fake news online requires a set of skills and knowledge that help you evaluate information. You also…

Fun anachronism-spotting activity set in 1796, for GCSE History of Medicine

Most anachronism activities used in schools are the rather naff ones put before Y7 pupils in an introduction to What…

Outstanding new KS2 Tudor Britain planner now available

If any of you have been waiting for the new up-dated Tudor planner, you can now request it via email…

Transported for defacing this bridge in the 1820s

Transportation; what questions can we raise and answer from the statistics?

This is the first of two lessons on transportation and owes its genesis to an idea from Richard McFahn when…

SMART TASK: A history puzzle – Opening up of the Western frontier by the railroads. A history mystery

This history puzzle focuses on a well-known painting, Across the Continent, but one which is actually more puzzling than might at…

SMART TASK: Why were mining towns such lawless places?

This is a very straightforward, yet highly effective task which asks students to distinguish between the generic and the specific,…

The likely impact of the Railroad: time for de Bono’s thinking hats and some creative products

Students are taken back to the year 1860 before there was a transcontinental railway. They are asked to speculate about…

Was the life of a cowboy really so adventurous?

This lesson draws heavily on the ideas of Sarah Herrity, Advanced Skills Teacher, Wyvern Technology College, near Winchester. It moves…

Who went west and why?

This lesson worked really well with lower attaining Y10 students who had already studied the Plains Indians and the contact between…

Teaching GCSE History: Changing Warfare (Edexcel)

This SHP option, offered by Edexcel only, builds on the success of the A2 paper for which colleges such as…

Teaching GCSE History: Media Through Time

Your best place to start is undoubtedly the AQA scheme of work which offers learning foci for each of the three strands….

SMART TASK: History of medicine Renaissance physicians; Is the artist taking the piss?

In this short activity students are shown two contrasting images of a physician inspecting a patient’s urine. Students have to…

SMART TASK: Medieval medicine. What can we work out from the picture?

A smart task based on an original idea from Lorna Hunter, of Swanmore Technology College. This deceptively simple example of…

SMART TASK Revision: name your best squad

To help students remember who the key individuals were in the history of medicine, you might like to present them…

SMART TASK: Why was there so much opposition to Jenner’s ideas on vaccination in the 19th century?

This is a short, fun SMART task. All the instructions are on the PowerPoint presentation. Start with slide 2 which…

SMART TASK Key Stage 4: GCSE SHP Medicine: 18th century surgery

This quick activity asks students to explore the detail in Rowlandson’s cartoon called ‘Amputation’. They score one mark for each…

SMART TASK: Was the Weimar Republic doomed from the start? A glass half empty?

The lesson starts with a glass of water which you have filled to roughly half way. Students have to say…

SMART TASK: How successful was Nazi policy towards women and families?

This short task was designed to combat the tendency many students have to simply describe rather than evaluate the policy. …

SMART TASK: 10 features of the Cold War but can you spot them?

Students often learn about the Cold War in chronological order. This activity offers them an opportunity to explore 10 aspects…

Ideas for teaching GCSE history Britain 1890-1918 using ICT

For suggestions for 20 top ICT activities using a wide range of data and applications click here to download PDF file. Resources…

SMART TASK: Now you see it, now you don’t. A fun starter showing how Lenin and Stalin used the ‘airbrush’

Fascinating starter in which students have to spot and then explain the differences between three pairs of photos of Soviet…

Smart Task: How popular was the Vietnam war? What can we learn from just two photographs?

This simple starter uses just two contrasting photographs, one showing the popularity of Johnson’s policy towards Vietnam, the other opposition…

SMART TASKS: Why did the US get involved in the Vietnam War?

Three separate short activities help students produce a top grade answer to the question. Task I – brainstorming early ideas…

SMART TASK: How significant was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the history of Civil Rights?

Quick ranking activity for GCSE/AS students Students are asked to consider the relative significance of 11 possible arguments that have…

SMART TASK: Causes of the Wall Street Crash

Students are given a set of influence cards which help them to work out the answer to an apparent paradox….

Keystage history

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