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Case study 3: All hands on deck!
Primary History article
Editorial note: A perfect complement to Barbara's articles is Helen Horler's. ‘ARTEFACT HANDLING AT BRUNEL'S SS GREAT BRITAIN ...Touch, Look, Listen, Smell - But Please Don't Taste' in Primary History 54, 2010.
Introduction: Time Helmet
For those who yawn at the prospect of yet another "famous person", and wonder how...
Case study 3: All hands on deck!
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Teaching about the German Occupation of Jersey through the Occupation Tapestry
Primary History article
The German Occupation and subsequent liberation of Jersey is particularly significant for schools in Jersey and is included in a new history curriculum being trialled for Key Stage 1 and 2 to be implemented in 2023. For children in Jersey, it relates to a significant event at Key Stage 1...
Teaching about the German Occupation of Jersey through the Occupation Tapestry
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Stories and National Identity
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
If you were asked to select just one story which you thought all children should know about British history, what would it be? Would it be Guy Fawkes or Florence Nightingale? The battle of Hastings...
Stories and National Identity
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The Maya: a 4,000-year-old civilisation in the Americas
Primary History article
Obscured by the fame of the Aztec empire or shrouded by a veil of mystery, the cultural history of the Maya has generally been misunderstood by the British public. Maya civilisation developed in a territory the size of Germany and Denmark together (nearly 400,000 km2). This vast territory shows three...
The Maya: a 4,000-year-old civilisation in the Americas
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Britain, Europe and the World?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
With the current debate on what content we should teach, and especially with the focus on pupils understanding the history of Britain before they leave school, it is perhaps pertinent to ask how this should link...
Britain, Europe and the World?
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Case study: The body in the bog - Red Christian goes missing
Article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references are outdated.
Bog Body mysteries have played a central, seminal role in History Education in Britain since the 1970s. The investigation of the Tollund Man Mystery was the original, introductory investigation for pupils that the Schools Council [aka Schools]...
Case study: The body in the bog - Red Christian goes missing
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Teaching famous people at key stage one
Primary History article
The draft English NC for history highlights the study of ‘significant individuals and people'. Michelle Dexter provides an insight on how to approach this biographical requirement; it also opens up biography as a major genre for pupils to master - augmenting their development of literacy...
Teaching famous people at key stage one
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Our heritage: use it or lose it
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
Mrs Markham's influential textbook, ‘A History of England', was first published in 1819 but was still being printed at the end of the nineteenth century. At the end of each chapter is a ‘Conversation'...
Our heritage: use it or lose it
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Ankhu and Nebu of Deir el Medina
Primary History article
Perhaps the hardest skill to develop in history is a sense of period. What was it really like to live in Ancient Egypt? Who should we study? Or, in this case, which workers were typical? Were these craftsmen in Deir el Medina typical of all the workers in Egypt? Or...
Ankhu and Nebu of Deir el Medina
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The Elizabeth cake
Primary History article
Hidden away on top of a dusty, battered cupboard in a local primary school were two equally dusty and battered log books. Each has seen better days and each could provide a range of links to local and national history. The log book was one of two found in one...
The Elizabeth cake
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Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the kingdom of England
Primary History Article
The Vikings will be familiar territory to many primary teachers. For many, therefore, this section of the history curriculum should cause fewer headaches than others. This does not mean, however, that it is all straightforward. This article contains a number of elements that teachers might welcome including a timeline of...
Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the kingdom of England
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Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
Primary History article
The most recent HA survey suggests that crime and punishment is a popular theme as a Key Stage 2 development study covering the period after 1066.
It is easy to see why. Crime, criminals and punishment have a fascination for many and herein lies its appeal as well as a...
Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
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Unpicking the learning potential in creative approaches to studying World War II
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
‘The biggest issue for school history is its limited place in the curriculum.' (Ofsted, 2007)
This central concern of Ofsted's 2007 report, History in the balance, could equally apply to the teaching of drama in primary schools....
Unpicking the learning potential in creative approaches to studying World War II
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Help! I am a new co-ordinator: when should I do what?
Primary History article
It would be pleasant to give an easy answer and produce a recommended calendar for all co-ordinators. The problem is that every school is different, the roles and expectations of co-ordinators vary and some years are different to others. Some co-ordinators have time to fulfil roles like observing colleagues. Some...
Help! I am a new co-ordinator: when should I do what?
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William Brookes and the Olympic Games
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
History flows like a river, sometimes quiet and unobtrusive, sometimes a raging torrent with wide-ranging effects on the world around us. It is punctuated by momentous events and significant individuals, who impact on its direction and...
William Brookes and the Olympic Games
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Ancient Sumer: the cradle of civilisation
Primary History article
In 1936 the next eagerly awaited Agatha Christie novel had just been published and readers were transported to a region that, from 1922 had been named Iraq, but through history had been part of Mesopotamia. The plot focuses on an archaeological dig that was taking place there, the victim is...
Ancient Sumer: the cradle of civilisation
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Planning a Victorian School Day
Primary History article
Learning is more engaging and better retained when it is contextualised and when it appeals to a variety of learning styles. How better to bring history alive, than by having it invade children's school environment and transform their everyday experience? Getting away from predominantly auditory learning, the printed word and...
Planning a Victorian School Day
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How technology has changed our lives
Primary History article
This article links teaching about Sir Tim Berners-Lee to Changes in Living Memory and Significant Individuals and makes comparisons between Caxton and the impact of earlier developments in communications technology.
It provides interesting topics for discussion about significance (pupils may be surprised by the idea that they are living through an exciting period of history at the moment). It even has the...
How technology has changed our lives
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Teaching and learning about Grace O'Malley as a significant woman at Key Stage 1
Article
"Why are you so angry Grace?" Teaching and learning about Grace O'Malley as a significant woman at Key Stage 1
Grace O'Malley was an Irish queen in the Tudor period and her story provides insights about life in Ireland at the time of the Elizabethan conquests. Grace, also known as...
Teaching and learning about Grace O'Malley as a significant woman at Key Stage 1
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Place, time and society
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editor's note The Place, Time and Society 8-13 Project was established in 1971 ‘to explore the problems of the part of the curriculum for children aged 8-13 which is related to the subject-areas of history, geography and...
Place, time and society
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Dramatising Boudicca and the Celts
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links are outdated.
The story of Boudicca lends itself equally well to both history and drama. As a key part of work on ‘The Romans', it is an example of how history and drama when used together can contribute to...
Dramatising Boudicca and the Celts
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The Coronation
Primary History article
On 6 May 2023 King Charles III, together with Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be crowned in Westminster Abbey. The Coronation provides rich opportunities for history lessons at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. At Key Stage 1 it naturally lends itself to Key Stage 1 ‘changes within living...
The Coronation
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The Amesbury Archer
Primary History article
One of the requirements for the Key Stage 2 history curriculum is that children learn about changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. In some ways this is a challenging period to teach – the evidential record is patchy, it is open to interpretation, and there...
The Amesbury Archer
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Case Study: Hit the net!
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Primary History's editorial team set me the challenge of seeing how useful ICT would be in my teaching. The challenge was timely, as I recently inherited a Year Six History class with its unit of work "Life in Britain since the 1930s"....
Case Study: Hit the net!
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Co-ordinators' concerns: ICT and OFSTED
Primary History feature
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
There is an expectation that we extensively use information technology across the curriculum. I don't mind this but I've always felt a bit uncomfortable. Using it with history always seems to compromise the quality of the history. I am worried though...
Co-ordinators' concerns: ICT and OFSTED
