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Planning for diversity in the Key Stage 2 history curriculum
Article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum and some content is now outdated, e.g. reference to the QCA. This article may therefore be more useful for those engaging in research than for practising teachers. See Primary History summer resource 2019: Diversity for current guidance.
In a series of three articles Hilary Claire...
Planning for diversity in the Key Stage 2 history curriculum
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Working with other subject leaders
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
History has often been described as an umbrella subject. This is because the nature of history means that we must learn something about the past and this something will encapsulate learning from other subject areas. However, while the history taught in your school can be enriched by other subject areas,...
Working with other subject leaders
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Scheme of Work: Chronological Unit - Numbers Through Time
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (unresourced)
The chronological unit is new and challenging for primary schools and it is important to tackle it correctly. Whether you decide to take the option of a broad sweep of time as this unit does, or whether you decide to home in on a specific turning point (examples of these...
Scheme of Work: Chronological Unit - Numbers Through Time
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Vikings settle down
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...
Vikings settle down
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Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2023 – the winners
The HA's writing competition for children aged 10-19 years
Being inspired by stories of the past to tell stories for today has kept people entertained for hundreds of years. Take a look at the shelves in any bookshop and there will be plenty of historical fiction. That is why we believe in starting them young at the HA, and...
Write Your Own Historical Fiction competition 2023 – the winners
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Film: 'Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World'
Article
Historian and author Martyn Whittock recently gave a lecture for the HA Virtual Branch on 'Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World'. In 1620, 102 ill-prepared asylum seekers landed two months later than planned, in the wrong place on the eastern coast of North America. By the next summer, half of...
Film: 'Mayflower Lives: building a New Jerusalem in the New World'
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Real Lives: A German captain’s perspective on the end of WWI
Historian feature
Our series ‘Real Lives’ seeks to put the story of the ordinary person into our great historical narrative. We are all part of the rich fabric of the communities in which we live and we are affected sto greater and lesser degrees by the big events that happen on a daily...
Real Lives: A German captain’s perspective on the end of WWI
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The Vikings: ruthless killers or peaceful settlers?
Primary History article
This article outlines how one Year 4 teacher approached the topic of the Vikings. The teaching of The Vikings allows for a range of historical concepts to be explored such as:
Chronological understanding – how long did Viking influence last? Where does it appear on the timeline of Britain? What...
The Vikings: ruthless killers or peaceful settlers?
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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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Children in Victorian Britain: Henry at boarding school
Lesson Plan
Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see:
Victorians (Primary History article, 2014)
Scheme of work: Sarah Forbes Bonetta
Scheme of work: Brunel
In this lesson children pursued an historical enquiry, raising questions and using original sources. They gained an understanding of conditions in early...
Children in Victorian Britain: Henry at boarding school
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Keeping the content manageable in Key Stage 2
Article
This section offers guidance on how Key Stage 2 history can be organised through the use of a number of key investigative questions for the most commonly taught areas of study.
Keeping the content manageable in Key Stage 2
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Primary History 92
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
04 Editorial (Read article for free)
06 HA Update
08 Teaching about Remembrance Day in EYFS – Jenny Munro, Paige Hazell, Tanya Wasik, Rianna Kelly and Helen Crawford (Read article)
12 The new King – Karin Doull (Read article)
16 ‘Remember, remember the Fifth of November!’ Where might the Gunpowder Plot sit...
Primary History 92
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Using Folktales, Myths and Legends
Global Learning
This resource was commissioned by the Historical Association to offer teachers an entry point into the new primary History curriculum using stories: folktales, myths and legends from the civilisations, communities and cultures of the statutory programmes of study.
In this resource, pupils are encouraged to recall and retell stories orally,...
Using Folktales, Myths and Legends
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Viking Burial Mound
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.
In this simulation of an excavation, the children investigate a past event and imaginatively reconstruct what happened, on the basis of the...
Viking Burial Mound
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Writing a History Policy
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
In this piece Bev explains why it’s important for history subject leaders to develop a whole school policy for history, key pieces of information you may want to include, and the need to review the policy on a periodic basis. It also includes two exemplars policies for you to review...
Writing a History Policy
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Primary History 100: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 100
We are proud to present you with the hundredth edition of Primary History journal. It is a publication that has developed and changed over the intervening years, adjusting and amending as the curriculum and teaching approaches have varied. At its heart, however, has always been the...
Primary History 100: Out now
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Is teaching about the Holocaust suitable for primary aged children?
Primary History case study
Editorial note: While this is a valuable paper, we must point out that the normal ethical procedures concerning such a sensitive, emotional subject must be followed in relation to pupils, their parents/carers and the wider community, i.e. the protocols for permission and clearance to teach such topics must be followed....
Is teaching about the Holocaust suitable for primary aged children?
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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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EYFS: What does good curriculum provision look like?
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
In this joint piece, Helen and Rob explore the EYFS Development Matters framework and its relevance to developing children’s understanding of the past. Helen suggests some key resources and approaches which work well in EYFS as well as some key questions to frame discussions with early years staff. Rob shares...
EYFS: What does good curriculum provision look like?
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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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Scheme of Work: Thematic study - Education
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (unresourced)
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...
Scheme of Work: Thematic study - Education
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Teaching the First World War in the primary school
Article
The current commemorations of the First World War have opened the door to some real opportunities for those teaching primary history – perhaps even considering taking children to the battlefields. Although this is customarily a secondary-school experience, this article outlines the opportunities for primary-age children. The suggestions here are based...
Teaching the First World War in the primary school
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Roman market (KS1 or KS2)
Lesson Plan
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.
Shopping in a Roman townPart of 'The way of life of people who lived in the more distant past in Britain'....
Roman market (KS1 or KS2)
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Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
Historian article
When the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in Mexico during the early sixteenth century there were many repercussions for the indigenous people. Their conversion to Christianity and the sacking of their temples are two of the most well known examples. However, it is often forgotten that the Aztecs had only a pictorial...
Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
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Introducing local history: the Fusehill Workhouse Project
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Master and Mistress of the Workhouse refused to talk to any of us as she was adamant that nothing she could remember would be very interesting!
Of course disappointments like this have to be accepted and...
Introducing local history: the Fusehill Workhouse Project
