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Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
Primary History article
From a visit to a local museum or heritage site, to using bushcraft skills to give pupils first-hand experience of what it might have been like to live in ancient times, teaching prehistory outside the classroom can really give this area of the curriculum the wow factor. The inclusion of...
Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
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Visual image: boxing boys fresco from Ancient Greece
Lesson Plan
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...
Visual image: boxing boys fresco from Ancient Greece
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Significance
Primary History article
What makes a person or event significant? When looking at the past, some people or events stand out in our minds. Individuals such as Florence Nightingale or Walter Tull at Key Stage 1 or events such as the Blitz at Key Stage 2 may have particular resonance. However, if we...
Significance
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The gall nuts and lapis trail
Primary History article
We are used to images of monks copying out texts in a very ornate manner. Books such as the Lindisfarne Gospels still absolutely amaze us with their colour, style and appearance. It must have taken hours and hours to copy out a text like that.
But how was it done? And how did the monks make the inks they...
The gall nuts and lapis trail
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Writing books for young children about the First World War
Article
It is hardly surprising that there are very few books for young children which tackle such a difficult subject as the First World War. In considering our approach, we knew we had to balance two distinct considerations – being absolutely true to the facts, yet, being sensitive to the effect of...
Writing books for young children about the First World War
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Getting Year 7 to set their own questions about the Islamic Empire, 600-1600
Teaching History article
Sometimes particular problems can lead to unexpected solutions. In this case, Sally Burnham decided to solve a problem that she had identified among her Year 12 students by changing the way in which she teaches Year 7. Her Year 12s were finding it difficult to set appropriate questions for their...
Getting Year 7 to set their own questions about the Islamic Empire, 600-1600
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Teaching Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history
Article
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people are the largest minority ethnic group in some communities (and therefore in some schools) in the UK. Yet the past of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller people may rarely be part of history lessons. The result is that pupils of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller heritage may not...
Teaching Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history
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Using ancient monuments to help teach about pre-Roman times in Britain
Primary History article
It is inconceivable that anyone teaching ancient Britain has not used some of the famous sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury, Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar or Stones of Stenness. They are vital sources of information for this period of history and the teaching usually introduces the element of mystery...
Using ancient monuments to help teach about pre-Roman times in Britain
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Back to basics: what does a good history lesson look like?
Primary History article
The new emphasis from Ofsted on the importance of the foundation subjects has meant a very welcome renewed interest in history and how it is taught. For years the dominance of literacy and numeracy in the curriculum has meant that time for foundation subjects has at best been compressed, and...
Back to basics: what does a good history lesson look like?
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Using museum and heritage sites to promote higher-level learning at KS2
Primary History article
The Key Stage 2 Primary History Curriculum sets ambitious challenges for pupils: "…They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge...
Using museum and heritage sites to promote higher-level learning at KS2
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WWI primary book reviews: The Christmas Truce and Where the Poppies Now Grow
Two illustrated stories of the First World War by Hilary Robinson & Martin Impey
The Christmas Truce
‘It's Christmas Eve 1914. A group of tired soldiers start singing Stille Nacht. Soldiers the other side of No Man's Land respond with Silent Night. The next day, soldiers on both sides put down their weapons and celebrate Christmas Day with a friendly football match.'
This heart-warming...
WWI primary book reviews: The Christmas Truce and Where the Poppies Now Grow
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How We Used to Sleep
School Resources
Want to take a fresh look at medicine through time with your students?
If so, you might be interested in teaching them about sleep’s history in the Renaissance. By focusing on sleep – something that we all do and have an opinion on – students can be introduced to changing...
How We Used to Sleep
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Ideas for Assemblies: Refugee stories
Primary History feature
Please note: this piece was written before Sir Mo Farah’s 2022 disclosure that he was trafficked to the UK as a child, so some of its content is no longer accurate.
An assembly could focus on the achievements of their lives, experiences as child refugees and migrants, and how they overcame...
Ideas for Assemblies: Refugee stories
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Coherence in primary history
Primary History article
This article looks at what coherence is, how it can be mapped and ways in which classroom activities can enhance pupils’ awareness of the past in a more coherent way.
What is it?
The term ‘coherence’ has been around a fair time now. Most reincarnations of the National Curriculum have referred to the need for...
Coherence in primary history
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Significant Individuals: Charles Darwin
Primary History article
Charles Darwin: exploring the man behind the beard – studying the lives of significant individuals in the past
Studying the life of Charles Darwin is an exciting way to meet the requirement in Key Stage 1 to teach significant individuals. But what do we actually know about him, beyond the...
Significant Individuals: Charles Darwin
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Children writing accounts: the Battle of Trafalgar
Exemplar
Paul Newton's Year 6 class was investigating the Battle of Trafalgar as the introduction to a Victorian study. The sources Paul had chosen were an extract from the diary of Lieutenant Paul Harris Nicholas, of HMS Belleisle, and the famous painting showing the death of Admiral Nelson on the quarterdeck...
Children writing accounts: the Battle of Trafalgar
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Global Learning November 2016
Global Learning Project
Although this project has now ended, the links and resources on this page remain useful.
1. Climate Change and Global Learning - New Key Stage 2 Activity Kit
With the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the recent climate conference in Marrakech, climate action is high on the international agenda. This activity...
Global Learning November 2016
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The Shang: What can we tell about an ancient civilisation from one tomb?
Primary History article
The Shang Dynasty of China, based around the Yellow River area, is regarded as the first Chinese dynasty that we have written evidence for. It was established in around 1760 BC when Tang set up his capital in the city of Bo. Over the next 600 or 700 years the Shang Empire grew and shrank,...
The Shang: What can we tell about an ancient civilisation from one tomb?
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The Great Plague of London (KS1)
Article
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
This was originally part of a 7-week unit looking at...
The Great Plague of London (KS1)
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Primary history and British values
Article
In this article, Michael Maddison provides an overview of what schools must do in relation to promoting British values, as well as preventing extremism and radicalisation, and why it is so important that opportunities are taken in history to deal with these two pressing issues. It is an updated version...
Primary history and British values
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Using shoes as an historical source
Primary History article
There is something fascinating about what people wore in the past. From corsets to clogs, the evolution of clothing and footwear can give an insight into different periods of history, an excellent way of engaging with the past. Shoes, in some form or another, have been around from the earliest...
Using shoes as an historical source
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Using original sources
Primary History article
Why would I want those old books in my classroom?
It has always been recognised that good primary history is able to connect the past with the world the children currently inhabit. That is why focusing on schools can be so useful. If there is one experience the children have...
Using original sources
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The potty timeline: an effective way of using timelines
Primary History article
Timelines are a constant source of fascination. Rows of events and time periods all jostling for position on an eternal line, cramming together or strung out with wide gaps between them. In our primary classrooms, however, the vastness of timelines can be diminished as we crop them on computers and...
The potty timeline: an effective way of using timelines
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Whatever did the Greeks do for us?
Primary History article
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....
Whatever did the Greeks do for us?
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History supporting global learning
Primary History article
I am the teaching head of a small village primary school, Hawkshead Esthwaite Primary, in Cumbria. We have, for the last year been one of the first Centres for Excellence for the Global Learning Programme (GLP).The GLP is a Department for International Development (DFID) initiative which began in September 2013...
History supporting global learning
