Creativity KS2Knowing and being able to explain the sequence in which your pupils will experience their history topics is an important part of the history subject leader’s role. But it can be difficult to be sure what works best. With our wealth of experience we are well placed to give you this crucial advice. Indeed, we nail our colours to the mast so that our planning, lessons, assessment and progression all follow the same rationale and are pitched to particular year groups.

Generally, the fine distinction between year groups cannot be empirically proven by research but having worked with 500 primary schools on their history curriculum over 18 years the following resources are suitable for year 4.

That does not mean it cannot be taught in other year groups. Of course, let’s face it, whether it is taught in term 3 Year 4 or 10 weeks later in term 1 Year 5 is hardly likely to matter that much.

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Outstanding Scheme of Work for teaching the Anglo Saxons

You’ll probably be thinking that there is an awful lot of pre-1066 British history in the KS2 curriculum with the…

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saxon invasion
Anglo-Saxons – KQ1a – Why did the Saxons invade? Push or pull?

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

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Anglo-Saxons map
Anglo-Saxons – KQ1b – Where did the early Anglo-Saxons live and how do we know? Bells and whistles

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

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anne boleyn letter
Life in Tudor Times – KQ2 part 3 – History and literacy – Making sense of a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

OR 14 ways of telling this is a love letter. Pupils are given a copy of a letter from Henry…

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hardwick hall lesson
Life in Tudor Times – KQ3 part 2 – Linking history with numeracy; a Tudor enquiry

More glass than wall? Is this a fair description of Hardwick Hall? And how do we find out? This SMART…

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Life in Tudor Times – KQ6 – How did people enjoy themselves in Elizabethan England?

This KS2 enquiry comprises three outstanding activities: 6a. Advising the film director To imaginatively reconstruct the scene using a variety…

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Roman Britain – KQ1 part 1 – From Caesar’s invasions to Claudius’ conquest

This first part of the first enquiry links to earlier work on the Iron Age and takes pupils from Julius…

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Roman Britain – KQ2 part 1 – Should the Celts take on the Romans? A reconstruction relay.

The Roman Army This highly active, boy friendly activity has proved extremely popular in schools and has led to some…

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boudica
Roman Britain – KQ2 part 3 – What image do we have of Boudica today?

Key Stage 2 pupils find Boudica fascinating so this is a good context for exploring the tricky ideas of historical…

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roman settlement
Roman Britain – KQ4 part 1 – Picture this. Creating a group drawing of a Roman town with all key buildings included in the right place

After re-capping the main features of Iron Age settlements, pupils work collaboratively in role as spies trying to find which…

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viking excavation
How have recent excavations changed our view of the Vikings? Key Question 4

Using the Mantle of the Expert approach, pupils help a confused museum curator to write high quality captions for 11…

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Outstanding medium-term planner for Vikings

This KS2 Vikings planner, judged outstanding by an OFSTED history inspector now links to all the fully-resourced outstanding lessons and…

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Vikings – KQ1 – What image do we have of the Vikings?

This two part session gives the topic on the Vikings a really active start. Following an introduction to the Vikings…

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Vikings – KQ2 – Why have the Vikings gained such a bad reputation?

Having explored the nature of the stereotypical Viking image in the first session, it is now time to examine the…

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Vikings – KQ3 – How did the Vikings try to take over the country and how close did they get?

This task encapsulates the struggle between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in an engaging way that really makes pupils think…

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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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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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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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pound coin explained
Henry VIII on the money. The strange case of the one pound coin

This is not so much a full lesson as an introduction to the Break with Rome.   It revolves around the…

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Vikings – KQ5 – What can we learn about Viking settlement from a study of place-name endings?

Viking place name evidence A very active session in which pupils apply their knowledge of Viking place name endings to…

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vikings
Vikings – KQ6 – Raiders or settlers: how should we remember the Vikings?

Differing views of the Vikings Fun concluding lesson in which pupils produce a balanced, illustrated Zig-Zag book to please a…

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Viking boat
KS2 Quick Quiz on the Vikings

This exit task is a quick way of working out whether the key messages of your teaching about the Vikings…

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Boudicca
Assessment of interpretations of Boudicca

Below is an account of an assessment task on Boudicca , with downloadable resources,  just one of many assessed tasks…

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