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Detectives: what were schools like in the past?
Lesson Plan
In this lesson we asked what clues (objects and pictures) can tell us about the past. How were schools in the past different from ours? (Resources attached below.)
The objectives were:
To introduce the children to the idea of history as detective work.
To help the children to make comparisons...
Detectives: what were schools like in the past?
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Means and Ends: History, Drama and Education for Life
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
John Fines, Raymond Verrier and I frequently taught as a team trying to discover where drama work and history meet. We were interested in helping children get a grasp of past events which have influenced their...
Means and Ends: History, Drama and Education for Life
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It worked for me: Knights and castles
Primary History case study
For their 2016 summer term topic, Class 2 at Thrumpton Primary Academy learnt about medieval knights and castles. Their teacher was particularly excited when she found out about the choice of topic for the term, as she has a degree in history with a specialism in medieval history!
We started...
It worked for me: Knights and castles
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Investigating children's awareness of changing values and attitudes through stories written in the past
Primary History article
Talking about historical stories written at different times in the past can reveal much about the more sophisticated understandings that young children have of the past. Primary school children often work with artefacts, historic architecture and sites to enable them to visualise and reconstruct the past. However, these sources do...
Investigating children's awareness of changing values and attitudes through stories written in the past
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Drama and story telling
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Everyone loves a story - especially a story well told. To encourage learning all primary teachers should consider the creative art of telling a story, as well as developing a variety of ways of interacting through...
Drama and story telling
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Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What has a small Shropshire town got to do with the modern Olympic Games? Why is a country doctor a key figure in the development of the modern games? Why is one of the 2012 mascots...
Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
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Progression in history and adapting work to the needs of different children
Article
This section deals with some of the general issues of progression and differentiation in the subject. The level descriptions provide the characteristics of progression in history and teachers should consider progress against these. However, progression is no simple issue and it can be looked at in different ways.
Progression in history and adapting work to the needs of different children
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Primary History summer resource 2022: Museum visits
Primary member resource
This year's free summer resource for primary members looks at making the most of museum visits.
Museums and sites provide rich sensory environments that engage children's curiosity and allow them to explore through all their senses. Museums and sites transmit the past through a variety of perspectives, provide authenticity and present historical evidence. The experiential nature of museum visits encourages genuine...
Primary History summer resource 2022: Museum visits
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Insights from a year of leading the development of a ‘knowledge-rich curriculum’
Primary History article
Raynville Primary School serves a highly disadvantaged area of West Leeds and we work hard to provide our children with the best opportunities to learn and enjoy their time with us. One jewel in the crown of our school’s curriculum is children’s historical learning as part of a knowledge-rich curriculum....
Insights from a year of leading the development of a ‘knowledge-rich curriculum’
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Using the back cover image: Communications
Primary History feature
Exploring the everyday objects that shaped our lives in the not too distant past can prove to be exciting historical challenges for primary age children. While we might remember or be familiar with the objects and their use, they can provide confusion for children. This is in part because of...
Using the back cover image: Communications
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Playing in the pandemic: Introducing the Play Observatory
Primary History article
What happens to children’s play in a global pandemic? In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was sweeping across the world, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from University College London and the University of Sheffield was beginning to plan a project to address this central question.
We began with history in...
Playing in the pandemic: Introducing the Play Observatory
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Storytelling the past
Primary History article
This article will demonstrate how to engage children through storytelling and how it can be used to develop their critical understanding of the past.
Why story?
Despite their common derivation, the words ‘history’ and ‘story’ suggest very different kinds of knowledge, the former carrying overtones of detached understanding of the...
Storytelling the past
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Dissolution of the Monasteries: Haughmond Abbey
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The objectives of this lesson were for the children to:
Understand that spoken language and word usage may change over a period of time;
Understand that to be able to use an historical document as a source of evidence it is...
Dissolution of the Monasteries: Haughmond Abbey
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Assessment and feedback in history
Primary History article
Every year schools need to produce a statutory annual report for parents and carers, setting out ‘brief particulars of achievements in all subjects and activities forming part of the school curriculum’. This should include the strengths and developmental needs of each child. In a subject such as history, how do...
Assessment and feedback in history
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The 2014 History National Curriculum: how to get the best from heritage
Primary History article
We all know that site visits are good for children - not least because they give a break from the normal school routine - and there are a plethora of heritage sites both local and national that are able to offer facilities for school visits. But we also know that...
The 2014 History National Curriculum: how to get the best from heritage
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Towards inclusion: A study of significant figures and disability within the national curriculum
Primary History article
Since the early days of the National Curriculum, considerable progress has been made to introduce children to an inclusive view of history. The research of the late Hilary Claire (1996) served as a major impetus and now primary teachers strive to ensure that no groups or individuals are marginalised, particularly...
Towards inclusion: A study of significant figures and disability within the national curriculum
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Archaeology and the Early Years: The Noah's Ark Experience
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
The authors of this article first worked together on a number of small scale excavations while Bev was still a primary school teacher in the Bradford area. When Bev changed roles to train...
Archaeology and the Early Years: The Noah's Ark Experience
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Teaching history through the use of story: Working with early years' practitioners
Primary History article
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...
Teaching history through the use of story: Working with early years' practitioners
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Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times
Primary History article
Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated.
Classic fiction provides useful sources of information for investigating the lives, beliefs and values of people in the past. In this article Ann Cowling describes activities undertaken with student teachers which may also serve as models...
Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times
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History through Drama, A Teachers' Guide - Revisited
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
It is now some seventeen years since the publication of our original pamphlet by the Historical Association [HA] as part of the Teaching of History Series (Wilson and Woodhouse, 1990). This article offers a personal review...
History through Drama, A Teachers' Guide - Revisited
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Drama and history: a theory for learning
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
When I visit primary schools these days it heartens me to see how often drama is used in classroom teaching. Looking back over my own career, drama and role play have always been...
Drama and history: a theory for learning
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Planning a post-1066 thematic study
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
The requirement in National Curriculum rubric at Key Stage 2 for a study or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 can appear intimidatingly broad at first sight, but Andrew Wrenn is here to help! Drawing on non-statutory examples provided in the National Curriculum – such as...
Planning a post-1066 thematic study
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How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader
Primary History article
As a subject leader you often have a lot on your plate and not always the time provided to do so. I have always been fortunate in that I have had support but I appreciate that in certain schools it can be difficult to fit everything in. Hopefully with this...
How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader
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How can we use significant anniversaries in our teaching?
Primary History article
Anniversaries enable us to draw out the significance of events and circumstances in the past in a number of ways. They can serve as a focus for assemblies, providing an opportunity to draw out work covered in history lessons or deal with topics which are outside what is covered in...
How can we use significant anniversaries in our teaching?
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Vikings: who were they?
Lesson Plan (KS2)
Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free...
Vikings: who were they?
