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Why is diversity so important and how can we approach it?
Primary History article
Imagine what the following scenarios tell you about the past – a Tudor role-play of Queen Elizabeth visiting Kenilworth Castle; a photograph of London during the Blitz; a picture of Viking warriors attacking Lindisfarne monastery. The first of the images can perhaps draw on a family visit to an event...
Why is diversity so important and how can we approach it?
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Learning about the past through toys and games
Article
A learning theme centred on toys and games is perfect for younger children as the Early Years curriculum is, of course, all about learning through play. Planned carefully, it can also provide many opportunities for children to develop their understanding of the past.
Adult-directed learning opportunities
Provide the children with...
Learning about the past through toys and games
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Scheme of Work: Walter Tull
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 1 History (unresourced)
Pupils will look at the childhood and football career of Walter Tull, what happened to him when he fought in World War I and why he was different from most people of his time. They will compare his experiences to issues and people still relevant today including the double Olympian...
Scheme of Work: Walter Tull
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HA Enquiry Toolkit
How to build an effective historical enquiry at key stages 1 and 2
An enquiry approach is becoming more popular for teaching many primary curriculum subjects. However, enquiry has always been the backbone of good history teaching. Knowing what constitutes a good historical enquiry and how to build one that will enable your pupils to get better at history is not as easy...
HA Enquiry Toolkit
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Celebrate your sporting heritage
Article
National Sporting Heritage Day takes place on 30 September every year. It aims to support schools and other community organisations to engage withtheir local sporting heritage, explore the heritage on their doorstep, celebrate and share the information that they find and inspire children and young people to find out more....
Celebrate your sporting heritage
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Local history and a sense of identity
Article
The history co-ordinator often finds some real challenges as well as opportunities in addressing local history in primary schools. The advantages are well rehearsed – making history relevant to the lives of the children and giving them an improved sense of identity and place through engagement with the ‘real thing’....
Local history and a sense of identity
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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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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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Time for a story
Using stories in the Early Years and Foundation Stage
Stories are an important part of a young child’s way of making sense of their world. Hilary Cooper’s excellent article ‘Why Stories?’ explores some of the reasons why stories are important to young children and their growing ‘understanding of the world’. This article is going to explore some recommended stories...
Time for a story
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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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Using artefacts to develop young children’s understanding of the past
Primary History article
In the children’s picture book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfrid is a small boy who meets Miss Nancy, an old lady who has lost her memory. Wilfrid wants to help, and so he carefully fills a basket with special objects and takes them to her. He places a medal in...
Using artefacts to develop young children’s understanding of the past
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Resourcing primary history: How to avoid going for any old thing
Primary History article
The recent survey of history teaching in primary schools conducted by the Historical Association revealed that the majority of respondents felt that they were short of resources to teach the revised National Curriculum. Not surprisingly most schools look to find resources that do the job cheaply. It is a truism...
Resourcing primary history: How to avoid going for any old thing
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Role play and the past
Primary History article
The role-play area is often the most popular feature of a foundation stage classroom. For children, it's a source of great fun; for Early Years teachers, it is a wonderful way to develop pupils' language, communication and social development skills. An effective role-play area can also be instrumental in helping...
Role play and the past
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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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Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
Primary History feature
Photographs are very useful and productive documents when teaching history. They provide a snapshot of the past such as this one from just outside Selfridges on Oxford Street in London c.1962-64. Combined with further images from Heritage Explorer, clips from Pathé News, extracts from the 1911 Census, locally gathered images...
Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
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Primary Scheme of Work: Local History
Scheme of Work
Unit for Key Stage 1: Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality (the school and its community)
Children can be introduced to the idea that schools have been in the locality for some time but they have not always been the same. They can look at similarities...
Primary Scheme of Work: Local History
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What makes good local history?
Primary History article
Everywhere has a past and learning how to capitalise on that for primary history can be both rewarding and challenging. Not only are aspects of the local area's history a requirement in their own right at both key stages, but these aspects can also help to tell the national story,...
What makes good local history?
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Planning for 'Changes within Living Memory'
Primary History article
While changes to the Key Stage 1 subject content are not as extensive as Key Stage 2 it is necessary to be aware of the changing emphasis within the different themes. ‘Changes within Living Memory' has a couple of key issues to be aware of. First, ‘living memory' refers to...
Planning for 'Changes within Living Memory'
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Whole-school planning for progression
Primary History article
The challenge for subject leaders and school leadership teams continues to be managing the tension between what history has to offer your vision for learning and your children's entitlement to a high-quality history education. The new national curriculum has ensured that this year you have had a close look at...
Whole-school planning for progression
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Sarah Forbes Bonetta: Scheme of Work
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 1 History (unresourced)
Children are introduced to the idea of significance, and how this might change over time. Sarah Forbes Bonetta – we don't even know her real name – was an African princess, a slave in West Africa, a god-daughter of Queen Victoria, a wife, mother and missionary teacher.
Does that make her...
Sarah Forbes Bonetta: Scheme of Work
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The importance of history vocabulary
Primary History article
Teachers and schools should surely be forgiven for quickly turning to the pages containing the ‘subject content' - within the new 2014 history curriculum - and finding out ‘what' they should be teaching. This is especially true for Key Stage 2 where children must now learn British history from the...
The importance of history vocabulary
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Key Stage 1 local history through fresh eyes
Primary History article
Upon approaching this article on teaching the local history component of the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 I decided to focus on one school, to look at what they normally deliver, and to put forward suggestions that could be used to enhance their existing unit of study.
I visited Pencoys...
Key Stage 1 local history through fresh eyes
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Local People and Places in the Early Years
Article
Learning in the Early Years through Local People and Places: developing historical concepts in the Early Years Foundation Stage
Using the local environment as a starting point for historical learning in EYFS not only helps young children engage and make learning meaningful and relevant, but also helps them develop a strong sense of identity. Working...
Local People and Places in the Early Years
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TREE-mendous history!
Primary History article
Since the nineteenth century there has been a rich heritage of outdoor learning pedagogy in Europe, and today in Scandinavia the open air culture (frulitsliv) permeates Early Years education. In 1993 Bridgewater College nursery nurses returned from a visit to Denmark enthused by the outdoor educational settings and started their own ‘Forest School'. From 1995 the college...
TREE-mendous history!
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What your local Archive Service can offer to schools
Primary History article
Imagine a place where your pupils become detectives working on mysteries from the past such as the tale of Thomas Sargeant, a 15-year-old factory worker who died in a chemical works in 1898. Your local archive is bursting with stories about real people like this which can give children an...
What your local Archive Service can offer to schools
