Keystage history

OFSTED’s focus on history deep dives 2024

From time to time, its worth reminding ourselves of what OFSTED chooses to comment on when reporting its findings from…

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…

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…

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…

Using story books at KS1 to develop a sense of time

I have written on this topic before, but there are always new and fresh titles appearing that necessitate an update….

Amelia Earhart knowledge organiser – KS1

You are learning about Amelia because she was a very famous American woman who learned how to fly and then…

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…

Looking for a change of Significant person at KS1 ? The Taylor Swift of her time – April 2024

You might be interested in a brand-new planner and lessons on Amelia Earhart which is now being uploaded. Why is…

Amelia Earhart – KQ1 – Why do we think that Amelia was famous?

This introductory session starts with firing pupils’ curiosity via a slow reveal in which pupils build a picture of her…

Amelia Earhart – KQ2 – What were the main events in Amelia’s life that shaped her ?

Having listened to an illustrated description of Amelia’s early life, pupils have to select suitable adjectives to describe her character…

Amelia Earhart – KQ3 – Why was Amelia so keen to fly when so few women at the time were interested?

A relatively short session exploring Amelia’s motivation starts with pupils drawing on their prior knowledge to consider why she took…

Amelia Earhart – KQ4 – What were the main ups and downs in Amelia’s life?

Using the living graph technique pupils sequence the events of Amelia’s flying career and then physically create points on a…

Amelia Earhart – KQ5 – How do we know so much about Amelia’s life when she lived so long ago?

In this session pupils get to work as history detectives matching clues within sources to statements historians have made about…

Amelia Earhart – KQ6 – What was Amelia’s greatest achievement and how should it be remembered?

Working towards the end goal of producing a book cover to encapsulate the key details of Amelia’s achievements, pupils learn,…

10 things you need to show OFSTED that you are doing your best to give children a high quality history education

Over the course of the last few months we have been fielding a number of questions from understandably anxious subject…

7 don’ts when it comes to OFSTED deep dives in primary history

1. DON’T assume that OFSTED has an expectation of what constitutes schemes of work: they don’t I mention this because…

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…

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…

2024 – Important anniversaries

Making sure you don’t miss out on this year’s important anniversaries in your history teaching Grace Darling – KS1 4…

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…

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…

When three queens ruled knowledge organiser – KS1

In this topic you are going to find out about three of the most famous queens that each ruled this…

When three queens ruled – KQ1 – Which three queens of England are most remembered in history and why?

This active and entertaining first session aims to provide pupils with a clear chronological overview of the last 500 years…

cartoon of queen victoria looking out window

When three queens ruled – KQ2 – How different was life in England when the 3 queens were ruling?

Out of the window Children are shown three images of scenes from the different periods as seen through a window….

When three queens ruled – KQ3 – How do we know about the queens who lived so long ago?

Handling sources of evidence Having explored the range of visual sources available to historians studying the three queens, pupils actively…

When three queens ruled – KQ4 – What important changes happened when each of the queens ruled?

Change / Significance Starting with 3 short video presentations, pupils go on to research the key changes from each of…

When three queens ruled – KQ5 – How should we remember these famous queens?

Pupils explore a range of ways in which monarchs are commemorated, focusing on Queen Elizabeth II, before going onto design…

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…

Poppy Day: what are memories?

This is the first session on Remembrance Day. It uses the excellent story of Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge as a…

What do we remember on Poppy Day / Remembrance Day?

This session revolves around a PowerPoint presentation which poses 6 significant questions, each designed to encourage pupils to think and…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Keystage history

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