Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Simon Schama's plea to "reinvent the art and science of storytelling in the classroom" made the media headlines and echoed centuries of educational history (Bage 1999). "It is, after all, the glory of our historical tradition...

The end of one school year and the beginning of a new one is always a time for reflection. If it coincides with moving classrooms and changing key stage too, as I am from KS1 to KS2, there is a good opportunity to sort out resources, and plan a fresh...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Six-year-old Rebecca asked me this question when I visited her classroom to share a book which I had written with her and her classmates. It seemed to me at the time that Rebecca was identifying a...

Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Introducing the youngest children to the concept of history can be a challenging prospect for some foundation stage practitioners, particularly if they feel their experience of the subject has been limited or their own memories of...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. In the autumn of 2009 I saw some of the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard on display at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and stood in awe at the skills of the craftsmen. Reminded so vividly of the...

IntroductionI was talking about ‘Doing History' with historical artefacts and objects with a young teacher when she closed the discussion with the statement ‘It's alright for you, you're old, your house is full of old things - how do I get them?' Alas - I had to agree with her,...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. A research project was carried out with Maltese primary school children at San Andrea Infant and Middle school to see if learning strategies could accelerate pupils' cognitive development. The research involved a range of historical sources:...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. This article will argue that although history can seem a ‘hard' discipline for young children, it can be made accessible and exciting through telling stories about objects. The article does not contain advice about obtaining objects:...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. Editorial note: This article reveals the power of the Internet in helping us all, adults and children, to bring portraits like Drake's to life. So, as you read, follow the links.

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. The class had composed its Anglo-Saxon funeral poem for Raedwald, an Anglo-Saxon king, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A6dwald_of_East_Anglia, the high king or Bretwalda of all seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the early seventh century as well as being King...

Introduction "So what did you do at school, today?" As a child, I remember being asked this question often by my good humoured, paternal grandfather, when he met me at the end of the day. On returning from the trenches in 1919, he had trained to become a teacher and...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. ‘Would you like to go for a walk in the woods on the other side of the river? I asked my wife on a spring day in 1982. Happily she assented, and we drove off...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. History gives colour and vitality to the curriculum. There are just so many engaging things to do. Without history there wouldn't be so much fun; whether in handling objects such as: the old wooden toys,...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. History is a subject whose meaning is properly appreciated only in our maturity. In their old age we find those we consider wisest turning to Gibbon, Burckhardt, and Thucydides. The richness and endlessly elaborated meaning of...

A successful schools system must have the capacity to harness the potential of all pupils. This means tailoring teaching so that every pupil makes strong, steady progress throughout their school lives. While we all agree that learners who are struggling need effective teaching and support, I am passionate that gifted...

Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. In a recent article in Primary History Denis Hayes suggests that despite many lively ways of learning about the past, ‘history concepts will always be beyond both the experiential and conceptual reach of the youngest pupils’. Consequently...

Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. History education needs to be placed in a wider pattern of curriculum development. Part I of this paper looks at general issues linking History with citizenship education and the early years. Part 2...

We all agree that oral history is a particularly powerful and attractive method for children to gather evidence and appreciate the real life relevance of history. From the Early Years to Year 6, many of us look deliberately for the opportunities to bring a visitor into the classroom, who will...

Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content, references and links are outdated. Tim Lomas describes a variety of learning activities that primary schools children enjoy.

Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated. For more current and recent articles see Using stories to support history in the EYFS and Time for a story. In this article we argue that children in the Foundation Stage should be introduced to history as historical...