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Difficult and challenging reading: Genre, text and multi-modal sources
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What impact did the Saxon invaders have? Our Year 4 class were puzzling over the picture of the Roman town forum at the height of the Roman Empire, one A3 picture per pair of pupils.
To...
Difficult and challenging reading: Genre, text and multi-modal sources
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Puritan attitudes towards plays and pleasure in the Age of Shakespeare
Presidential Lecture - Annual Conference 2014
In Twelfth Night Shakespeare gently mocked the Puritans, who objected to stage plays and other entertainments. Yet within four decades, the Puritans had closed the London theatres and were about to seize power from Charles I. Among their many reforms were the banning of Christmas celebrations and of Twelfth Night itself....
Puritan attitudes towards plays and pleasure in the Age of Shakespeare
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War, Society and the State in Early Modern Europe
Podcast
Lecture from the 2012 HA Annual Conference
Frank Tallett: Fellow in History at the University of Reading and former Head of its School of Humanities
Until recently, military history has largely been concerned with ‘badges and buttons', an approach that stressed tactics, strategy and weapons. The so-called New Military History has sought...
War, Society and the State in Early Modern Europe
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Roman Britain: a brief history
Reference guide for primary
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
From the founding of the city of Rome in the...
Roman Britain: a brief history
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On-demand webinar: Developing formative and extended writing in primary history
Webinar series: History and literacy: better together
History and literacy: better together
Session 5: Developing formative and extended writing in primary history
This webinar will demonstrate how giving pupils opportunities to write formatively can capture their understanding at given points in a learning episode, helping them to structure their developing thinking and supporting teachers in spotting and...
On-demand webinar: Developing formative and extended writing in primary history
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On-demand webinar: Using the work of historians in the primary history classroom
Webinar series: History and literacy: better together
History and literacy: better together
Session 3: Using the work of historians in the primary history classroom
This webinar will show how the writing and insights of real historians can be used across medium-term plans in primary history. It will give examples of how historians' ideas can be simplified for presentation...
On-demand webinar: Using the work of historians in the primary history classroom
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On-demand webinar: Helping children build secure evidential thinking
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Session 5: Helping children build secure evidential thinking
Handling sources is something all children learn to do in Key Stage 2 history, but often that crucial distinction between ‘source’ and ‘evidence’ is confused. No archaeologist digs up ‘evidence’. And labelling sources as either...
On-demand webinar: Helping children build secure evidential thinking
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On-demand webinar: Helping children think about change and continuity
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Session 4: Helping children think about change and continuity
Historians, when studying a period of history, ask ‘what changed over this period?’ and ‘what stayed the same over this period?’ This session will explore disciplinary thinking around change and continuity, helping children to...
On-demand webinar: Helping children think about change and continuity
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On-demand webinar: Helping children think about similarity and difference
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Session 3: Helping children think about similarity and difference
Historians, when comparing civilisations or places, ask, ‘what is similar?’ and ‘what is different?’ This session will explore disciplinary thinking around similarity and difference, building secure knowledge and equipping children with the vocabulary...
On-demand webinar: Helping children think about similarity and difference
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On-demand webinar: Helping children think about cause and consequence
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Building and securing disciplinary thinking in primary history
Session 2: Helping children think about cause and consequence
One of the most common questions asked by historians is ‘why...?’ Why did this event happen? How did the event happen? What were the results of this event? This session will explore disciplinary thinking...
On-demand webinar: Helping children think about cause and consequence
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On-demand webinar: Avoiding confusion with significance in primary history
Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Session 4: Avoiding confusion with significance in primary history
This practical webinar will identify what confuses pupils in the teaching of the disciplinary concept of historical significance and will show how such confusion and misconceptions can be avoided and challenged. Examples of...
On-demand webinar: Avoiding confusion with significance in primary history
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On-demand webinar: Avoiding confusion with historical interpretations in primary history
Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Session 3: Avoiding confusion with historical interpretations in primary history
This practical webinar will identify what confuses pupils in the teaching of the disciplinary concept of historical interpretations and will show how such confusion and misconceptions can be avoided and challenged. Examples...
On-demand webinar: Avoiding confusion with historical interpretations in primary history
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On-demand webinar: Avoiding confusion with cause and consequence in primary history
Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Avoiding confusion and challenging misconceptions in primary history
Session 2: Avoiding confusion with cause and consequence in primary history
This practical webinar will identify what confuses pupils in the teaching of the disciplinary concept of cause and consequence and will show how such confusion and misconceptions can be avoided and...
On-demand webinar: Avoiding confusion with cause and consequence in primary history
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Case Study: Creative chronological thinking
Primary History article
Personal biographies
I often ask groups to collect and record their own personal chronologies. They are asked to bring in evidence to tell the stories of their own lives or of the life of a relative, which they will then weave into a ‘photo book' story. The photo books become...
Case Study: Creative chronological thinking
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Building St James's spire: Louth's guilds and popular piety in the later middle ages
Virtual Branch Lecture Recording
Medieval historian Dr Claire Kennan continued our Virtual Branch series with a local history talk on the building of St James's spire, Louth.
In her talk Kennan traces the important role that Louth's major guilds of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Holy Trinity played in the building of the St James’s spire. Throughout the...
Building St James's spire: Louth's guilds and popular piety in the later middle ages
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HA News, Autumn 2024
Welcome to the autumn 2024 edition of HA News magazine
Welcome to the autumn edition of HA News.
We have updates on the office team's move back into 59a, and HA President Alexandra Walsham's busy six months travelling the country supporting the HA and its activities, as well as membership, education and competition updates.
Dr Dean A. Irwin shares ‘What got me into...
HA News, Autumn 2024
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The Kingdom of Benin 1500-1750
Podcast
In this podcast Dr Toby Green of King's College London examines the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Benin.
The Kingdom of Benin 1500-1750
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Young children and chronology
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
"How did you stop yourself from getting the plague?"
This quotation from a child signals some of the challenges of teaching children about chronology in the primary school. Learning about chronology involves:
Knowing the conventions of...
Young children and chronology
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Music in the History Curriculum
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references are outdated.
In a primary school in Devon, there is a teacher who sings to his class every day: traditional songs; love songs; lyrical ballads; sea shanties; tales of mystery and suspense; songs of ritual and ceremony, hunting songs,...
Music in the History Curriculum
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Why did you write it like a story rather than just saying the information?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Six-year-old Rebecca asked me this question when I visited her classroom to share a book which I had written with her and her classmates. It seemed to me at the time that Rebecca was identifying a...
Why did you write it like a story rather than just saying the information?
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Course: Supporting SEND pupils in your primary history lessons
HA CPD course for history subject leaders in mainstream schools
Book Now
(Registration is via Cademy which opens in a new window. Please read the HA CPD terms and conditions before registering)
Available dates
Spring term: Friday 27 February 2026 (online)
What does the course cover?
Do you struggle to engage your lower attaining or EAL pupils in their history lessons? Are...
Course: Supporting SEND pupils in your primary history lessons
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Webinar series: AI in primary history
HA webinar series for primary teachers and history subject leaders
What does this series cover?
The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence is transforming education, the economy and society at a blistering pace. In the face of such seismic change, it can feel daunting. Whatever your level of experience with AI, this new webinar series will equip you to make informed...
Webinar series: AI in primary history
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The Leeds Community History Project
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Nuffield Foundation-funded Leeds Community History Project brought together schools and older community members in the creation of community archives. It focused on articulating, valuing and recording the older generation's memories and knowledge. Its overarching...
The Leeds Community History Project
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Leading Primary History
Leading Primary History
Please note: this guide was written before the 2014 National Curriculum and some of the advice may no longer be relevant. For more up-to-date guidance visit our Primary Subject Leader area (available to Corporate Primary Members) or see:
Progression and assessment without levels
Progression from EYFS to KS3
Tracking pupil progress
Assessment and...
Leading Primary History
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Recorded webinar: Virtual History Forum: Reigning over change
Article
These three recordings are taken from the Virtual History Forum which took place in March 2022 and focused on change over the last 70 years.
2022 marked the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. This is an unprecedented occasion in our history. The last 70 years have seen both continuities and...
Recorded webinar: Virtual History Forum: Reigning over change
