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Case Study 5: Local History - A pupil-led study with 9-10 year olds
Article
The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth funded me to carry out an Action Research project with a focus upon personalised learning. This NAGTY Developing Expertise Award empowered four Year 5 girls to investigate the history of their local town. The pupils attended a school in a small market...
Case Study 5: Local History - A pupil-led study with 9-10 year olds
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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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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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History in the Urban Environment
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
A study of the local environment can make a vital contribution to children's sense of identity, their sense of place and the community in which they live. More importantly, a local study can enable children...
History in the Urban Environment
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The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR)
Primary History article
This article 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
In a celebration of the 200-year anniversary of the Stockton...
The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR)
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Using cemeteries as a local history resource
Primary History article
Why visit a cemetery as part of the history curriculum? Local studies now feature prominently in the primary history curriculum for both key stages. This development challenges teachers to find easilyaccessible, inexpensive and relevant resources on their doorstep. A rich resource which has traditionally been overlooked is the local churchyard...
Using cemeteries as a local history resource
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‘Nothing was easy’: Viewing war, empire and racism through the eyes of a local Windrush migrant
Primary History article
This article 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
Andrew Wrenn shares examples from a fascinating project with which...
‘Nothing was easy’: Viewing war, empire and racism through the eyes of a local Windrush migrant
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Incorporating Fieldwork into Your History Curriculum
Article
Please note: this guide is now over 10 years old.
Fieldwork might fit in to almost any British unit you study – is there a Stone Age burial, or Iron Age Hill fort nearby to investigate? A Roman villa or Viking settlement? Can place names tell us about the local...
Incorporating Fieldwork into Your History Curriculum
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Teaching Robin Hood at Key Stage 1
Primary History article
The stories of Robin Hood, which date from the Middle Ages, are integral to an understanding of British history. Although historians have not been able to identify a single historical figure that can be called Robin Hood, rooted in evidence, the myth or legend of Robin Hood has had a...
Teaching Robin Hood at Key Stage 1
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Significant anniversaries: the infamous Beeching Report 1963
Primary History article
March 2023 sees the anniversary of a report that had profound significance on social history and which affected many parts of the United Kingdom. There is every chance that it had an effect close to your school especially if you are in a more rural or coastal area.
The Beeching...
Significant anniversaries: the infamous Beeching Report 1963
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Place-names and the National Curriculum for History
Primary History article
Place-names, such as house or school names, are infinite in number and all around us. Every place-name may convey a message about the place. Often place-names record and celebrate local and national people, events and incidents, define what a place looked like in the past and how we used to...
Place-names and the National Curriculum for History
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Developing disciplinary knowledge: how and why castles and forts developed
Primary History article
Disciplinary knowledge is often identified as a key area of development by subject leaders. In this article, Susie Townsend explores the concepts of change, continuity and causation through the lens of forts and castles. Emphasizing the importance of enquiry, she provides a range of historical activities that could be used in...
Developing disciplinary knowledge: how and why castles and forts developed
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The creative history curriculum
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
Do you give in to bullying, stay loyal to your leader, admit your actions, betray your neighbours, challenge discrimination or just keep quiet? These were the issues faced by Year 4 children at East...
The creative history curriculum
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Children in Victorian Britain: Down the Mine
Lesson Plan
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
Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum....
Children in Victorian Britain: Down the Mine
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Scheme of Work: Local History – transport
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (unresourced)
Children can be introduced to the idea that transport has changed considerably in the locality over time and that this has had a significant impact on the way that the community has changed and developed. They can also understand how and why these developments have occurred.
This unit is structured...
Scheme of Work: Local History – transport
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Aztec Experience
Lesson Plan
Take a holiday with the Aztecs! Children design holiday brochures.
History providing a context for literacy. Demonstration and modelling of the holiday brochure genre, and the transfer of understanding of the generic form into an historical context.
Pupils produced their own brochures giving information about life in the Aztec capital,...
Aztec Experience
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War memorials as a local history resource
Primary History article
War Memorials Trust (WMT) is the charity that works for the protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK. It defines a war memorial as ‘any physical object created, erected or installed to commemorate those involved in or affected by a conflict or war' (WMT 2009, ‘Definition of a...
War memorials as a local history resource
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History...about lives and living
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Let me start with a personal experience and then move on to a classroom example.
I went to Paris for a few days recently and sat in the bar where Hemingway used to drink with...
History...about lives and living
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Incorporating local history into a scheme of work
Key Stages 1-3 (Years 1-9)
This unit is not itself a scheme of work, but instead suggests ways local history might meaningfully be incorporated into a Scheme of Work. It is not meant to be prescriptive, but to suggest ideas, areas and tools that should help teachers make a study of local history meaningful.
See...
Incorporating local history into a scheme of work
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Boudicca
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.
Pupils asked:
Who was Boudicca?
What was she like physically and what was she like as a person?
What did other...
Boudicca
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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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The British Empire on trial
Article
In the light of present-day concerns about the place, in a modern world, of statues commemorating figures whose roles in history are of debatable merit, Dr Gregory Gifford puts the British Empire on trial, presenting a balanced case both for and against.
In June 2020 when the statue of slave-trader Edward Colston...
The British Empire on trial
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HA Blog Watch
Selected history education blogs
We've collated some of the best history education blogs here. The list isn't exhaustive so if there is a great history education blog out there that is not on this list – let us know!
One Big History Department
HA Secondary Committee blog
One Big History Department (OBHD) has been...
HA Blog Watch
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HA Podcasted History: Ancient Persia
Ancient Persia
In this series of podcasts Professor Thomas Harrison of the University of Liverpool examines the Persian Empire, life in ancient Persian society and the Greek-Persian War.
HA Podcasted History: Ancient Persia
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Pride in place: What does historical geographical and social understanding look like?
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
‘Some primary schools are like the High Street in many of our towns. I can predict what I will see before I go through the door. What I want to see is something that gives me...
Pride in place: What does historical geographical and social understanding look like?
