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Famous People: Florence Nightingale (KS1)
Lesson Plan
The life of a famous person from the past and why she acted as she did
Florence Nightingale: her life, why she went to the Crimea, and what happened as a result of her work.
Cross-curricular work: this lesson stretches and challenges all children, regardless of their ability, whilst teaching...
Famous People: Florence Nightingale (KS1)
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Using inventories in Key Stage 2 history
Primary History article
Continuing the focus on using historical sources, this article by Clare Lally introduces us to the use of historical inventories. Using examples from the Tudor period, Clare considers how inventories can be used to explore diversity of experience between rich and poor.
At every stage of historical enquiry, from primary...
Using inventories in Key Stage 2 history
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Story-telling and discussion: KS1 exemplar: Columbus the explorer
Short Lesson Exemplar
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Setting the scene: what is an explorer?
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...
Story-telling and discussion: KS1 exemplar: Columbus the explorer
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Benin: exploring an African empire at Key Stage 2
Primary History article
Karin Doull reminds us of the value in studying Benin as a non-European study area and suggests how it might be approached, stressing the importance of placing it in context through comparison. The article addresses worthwhile aspects, key concepts and questions as well as furnishing some key information including extracts...
Benin: exploring an African empire at Key Stage 2
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The Great Exhibition of 1851: teaching a significant event at Key Stage 1
Primary History article
The Great Exhibition allows pupils to consider the impact of a particular event. The exhibition provides a means to look at Britain’s wider role in the world and social and technical developments such as the impact of the railways. Pupils can explore a variety of sources, consider the substantive concepts...
The Great Exhibition of 1851: teaching a significant event at Key Stage 1
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Northamptonshire in a Global Context
Key Stages 2 and 3
Produced by the Northamptonshire Black History Association and originally published in 2008, this is one of a set of resources for schools offering a more inclusive map of the past that includes an appreciation of Black History within the local, national and global context. The resources provide a range of opportunities to promote diversity within the curriculum....
Northamptonshire in a Global Context
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Belmont’s evacuee children: a local history project
Primary History article
Teaching about World War II, particularly the home front, continues to be popular in primary schools, despite the government deciding not to include it as a compulsory subject in the new National Curriculum introduced in 2014. Many primary schools still choose to organise an evacuee experience of some kind for pupils...
Belmont’s evacuee children: a local history project
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Cleopatra Podcast
Branch Lecture Podcast
This pod-cast was recorded at the Central London Branch of the Historical Association on Saturday 20th February 2010, at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, University of London. We were pleased to welcome cultural historian Lucy Hughes-Hallet to the branch to speak on ‘Cleopatra'. Lucy Hughes-Hallet detailed how fact and legend about Cleopatra had been intertwined through history in...
Cleopatra Podcast
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Elizabethan times: Just banquets and fun?
Primary History article
Although much of the Key Stage 2 history curriculum relates to the period before 1066, we are expected to include 'a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066' (DfE, 2013,p.5)
This raises two questions:a) How can a post-1066 topic be related...
Elizabethan times: Just banquets and fun?
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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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The history of medicine – warts and all – for Key Stage 2
Primary History article
The story of the history of medicine is HUGE! In fact, it’s a story within story within a story…
You only have to note the substantial amounts that have been written on the subject in the past, to realise that this is a story that could baffle and perplex even...
The history of medicine – warts and all – for Key Stage 2
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Flight
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Download the attached lessons below.
Cross-curricular lessons in History, Science, and Design & Technology:
the story of Icarus and his flight to the Sun (is this possible?),
the story of the Montgolfier brothers and their...
Flight
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Power and Freedom in Britain and Ireland: 1714–2010
New HA film series | Starting this autumn
From royal courts to radical protests, from industrial revolutions to global empires – this compelling new film series traces the dramatic evolution of power, rights, and freedom across three centuries of British and Irish history.
We will trace Britain and Ireland’s transformation from 1714 to 2010, unpacking power struggles, social revolutions, and...
Power and Freedom in Britain and Ireland: 1714–2010
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Outline plan using key questions: Vikings example
A Series of Lessons (KS2)
Overall key question: Who were the Vikings?
Lesson 1
Key question: What can a case study tell us about the Vikings?
Content Building on prior knowledge - what the children knew and what they wanted to know.Digging up a burial mound on the Isle of Man, and discovering many aspects...
Outline plan using key questions: Vikings example
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Scheme of Work: Brunel
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 1 History (unresourced)
At Key Stage 1, pupils are asked to examine the lives of significant individuals who have also contributed to national achievements. A study of Isambard Kingdom Brunel provides a fascinating example of an individual whose technological and engineering advances have helped to shape the face of Britain.
Children can identify...
Scheme of Work: Brunel
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Teaching local history in primary schools: learning about effective practice
Primary History article
Rachel Bruce and Susannah Russell were two of the six primary teachers on the recent Local History Teacher Fellowship. Here they outline the activities they were engaged in and how they produced two very different local history enquiries – one based in York and the other in Wrecclesham, Surrey. They...
Teaching local history in primary schools: learning about effective practice
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Two women linked across three thousand years of history
Primary History article
16 May 1976 – a warm sunny day as Zheng was to recall – began as a typical day on site and ended with a remarkable discovery. Zheng Zhenxiang was leading an archaeological team at Yinxu, Anyang in China looking for evidence of tombs from the Shang Dynasty period. This...
Two women linked across three thousand years of history
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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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Poverty in Britain: A development study for Key Stage 2
Primary History article
One of the requirements for Key Stage 2 history is for some history that extends beyond 1066. Various suggestions have been made including an examination of change within a social theme. The example given is Crime and Punishment but the opportunities for something interesting are vast. This article focuses on...
Poverty in Britain: A development study for Key Stage 2
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Scheme of Work: Ancient Sumer
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (unresourced)
Ancient Sumer is often called 'the Cradle of Civilisation'. The Ancient Greeks called it Mesopotamia - the land between two rivers. It is where cities first developed, agriculture began and writing first appeared. One eminent historian records 39 'firsts' for Sumer! Most of this was lost until the 20th century,...
Scheme of Work: Ancient Sumer
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Dig for sustainability!
Primary History article
Paul Spear uses World War II government advertising strategies such as ‘Make do and Mend’ to consider how to promote modern campaigns related to sustainability. He investigates what the wartime government did to engage with the population as a whole and generate national action. By analysing how images were used...
Dig for sustainability!
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Global Learning & Critical Thinking
Article
Critical thinking
GLP-E aims: Young people will also develop the skills to interpret that knowledge in order to make judgements about global poverty. In this way they will be able to:
think critically about global issues.
The GLP has a strong focus on developing young people's knowledge and understanding of...
Global Learning & Critical Thinking
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Global Learning & Critical Thinking
Article
Critical thinkingGLP-E aims: Young people will also develop the skills to interpret that knowledge in order to make judgements about global poverty. In this way they will be able to:think critically about global issues.The GLP has a strong focus on developing young people's knowledge and understanding of development, and in...
Global Learning & Critical Thinking
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What’s in your pocket, Peg?
Primary History article
What’s in your pocket, Peg? is a story book about Jersey which experienced German occupation throughout most of World War II. We wanted to create a book that appealed to children across different primary age groups, helping them to imagine the first-hand life experiences of a child alive at that time. The...
What’s in your pocket, Peg?
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Primary History 52: Education and the Environment
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
03 Editorial
04 In my view: Education and the built environment – Dominic Balmforth
06 In my view: Primary history and Engaging Places – Rochelle Whitty
08 In my view: Engaging Pupils: An A Level student describes her experience of collaborative working with Key Stage 2 – Bernice Waghorn
09...
Primary History 52: Education and the Environment
