About 3,200 years old, the Acropolis of Athens supports the most stunning and complete collection of ancient Greek structures that still exist. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, it remains a mostly intact classical collection that fascinates those who study and visit it. I have always been intrigued...

This unit produced by Sporting Heritage is designed flexibly as either a chronological or a thematic study. As such, its editable core PowerPoint resources can be used as a depth or extended overview topic in relation to:   Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and the Greeks’...

The ancient Greeks were a maritime people – they travelled and traded vast distances by sea, but rarely left sight of land. They were also a very divided nation. Separate city states fiercely guarded their independence, only uniting [sometimes!] to fight against a common enemy like the Persians. The Greeks all...

Where did the Vikings go to in ‘these islands’? Ancient Greece – Did you know…?

The National Curriculum asks us to help our children to study ‘Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world’ [DfE 2013]. Lots of books explore the ancient Greeks [see, for example, Ancient Greece by Alf Wilkinson, Collins Primary Histories, published in 2019]. It is a familiar topic....

Sometimes it is not easy to understand how the different units of the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum were selected, but this is not true for the Ancient Greek unit. Since the renaissance period, knowledge of ‘the classics’ has been a central element for an educated man or woman. Ancient...

This primary workshop took place at at the Historical Association Annual Conference, Chester, May 2019. In this session, Stuart explored the principles of how working at greater depth can be applied into history units of work to allow the most able of learners to excel and fully reach their potential in history...

Children can be introduced to the idea that educating children has a long history with many changes over time, sometimes with turning points and significant developments. This unit examines some ideas about change, e.g. the pace and nature of change, the impact of change and continuity. It draws upon content...

Ancient Greece has been part of the primary national curriculum since its inception in 1991 so you may already have a viable scheme of work and classroom resources in place. However, this is not a reason for eschewing the opportunity to review what you are doing, especially to explore how...

In this unit children use a range of sources to find about the life and achievements of the Ancient Greeks.  Through their investigations they find out about the city states of Athens and Sparta, warfare and seamanship, everyday life, beliefs, culture, and through Greek mythology, some of the key events...

Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon. So begins Robert Graves' poem, The Persian Version. The conceit of the poem is to invert the standard narrative of the Persian war of the early fifth century BC - a narrative drawn from Greek sources such as...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Time and change in stories Everyone loves a story and stories have always been at the heart of early years education. Children can relate their own experiences of time to stories in picture books about other...

THE OLYMPICS: TEACHING HISTORY TODAY 04 Editorial: Nelson Mandela, Apartheid and the Olympics 05 Think Bubble: What ever happened to the Standing Long Jump? - Peter Vass 06 Public celebration of the 1864 Olympian Festival - Dominic Wallis PLANNING FOR THE OLYMPICS 08 Primary History and planning for teaching the...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. In a 10-week unit on Ancient Greece, we gave the fourth lesson over to the ancient Olympic Games. The class was a delight: 32 enthusiastic Year 6 children in an urban county primary school. We knew...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. When I was a boy the Greek Olympics was one of the perennials of the primary history curriculum, alongside the Battle of Hastings and the execution of Charles I. I have memories of an old text...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Possibly a ‘once in a lifetime' experience will be witnessing the British hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games. Despite the inevitable commercialisation of the event, it will certainly be possible for children to be excited and...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial note: Below is a one-page outline of a wonderful briefing replete with visual and textual sources and teaching ideas from The Cambridge Schools  Classics Project (CSC P). The outline below consists of the full introduction...

This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and subject leaders, join the Historical Association today Please note: this guide was written before the new National Curriculum...

This was a ten-week Ancient Greece unit, taught to a Year 6 mixed ability class of 34 children. There was a strong citizenship strand running through the whole programme, particularly the strands of political literacy and critical enquiry (see below). Citizenship values and concepts, with teaching/learning activities in italicsAppreciation of...

John Fines was working with a class of 28 Year 6 pupils, studying Ancient Greece. John wrote: Challenge is what the Nuffield Primary History project is all about, and I wanted the class to think hard about the Greeks and to question sources. My learning objectives were for the children...