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A Significant Local Event: Carlisle floods
Primary History article
Sue Temple has used her personal experience of flooding around Carlisle as a basis for exploring local history. She suggests strategies for how we can explore events that have occurred in our own environments by making use of photos and oral history to link to the personal and immediate. As extreme...
A Significant Local Event: Carlisle floods
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School children work as archaeologists
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Adults find local history fascinating: the minutiae of life in the past and the way a familiar place has become what it is today capture our imagination. But children may be rather less eager to...
School children work as archaeologists
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Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
Primary History feature
Photographs are very useful and productive documents when teaching history. They provide a snapshot of the past such as this one from just outside Selfridges on Oxford Street in London c.1962-64. Combined with further images from Heritage Explorer, clips from Pathé News, extracts from the 1911 Census, locally gathered images...
Using the back cover image: Oxford Street in the 1960s
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M&S brings over 130 years of archives into your classroom
Article
There is something really magical about making your own discoveries. Investigating something sparked by your own curiosity and using your own skills of observation and deduction to find out more is exciting. Human beings have always wanted to find out about our history and our place in the world –...
M&S brings over 130 years of archives into your classroom
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What can you do with an old postcard?
Primary History article
Whether looking at ‘events in living memory’ at Key Stage 1, or a local history study at Key Stage 2, old postcards are extremely useful. They are also relatively cheap and easy to get hold of.
One aspect that can easily be explored using old postcards is evidence - they are an...
What can you do with an old postcard?
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How can we teach about medieval Britain in primary schools?
Primary History article
There is no question that the medieval period (no matter what timespan it claims) offers plenty of fascination for the primary pupil. It also allows some continuity with the period up to 1066 which forms the bedrock of the Key Stage 2 history curriculum. With opportunities to cover the medieval...
How can we teach about medieval Britain in primary schools?
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Case Study: Creative exploration of local, national and global links 1650
Primary History article
Introduction: Linking two schools
Rather than looking to create connections with schools in distant places, two teachers from two schools located in different parts of the city of Bristol established a successful link which enabled children to appreciate the personal and local histories on each other's doorsteps. 7/8 year old [year...
Case Study: Creative exploration of local, national and global links 1650
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Using Horrible History to develop primary literacy and history
Primary History article
When I started planning for my Key Stage 2 literacy lessons last year, I wanted to link them to my history topic, the Tudors, and I also needed them to cover a significant amount of non-fiction English objectives, having focused on fiction and poetry texts in the previous term. One...
Using Horrible History to develop primary literacy and history
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Using Spaces Near You
Article
Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum; some content may be outdated and links may be broken.
Urban spaces such as parks and gardens offer a range of opportunities for children's learning. In these green patches children can investigate, observe, wonder, record and create.
Using Spaces Near You
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What can you do with a Victorian Trade Directory…?
Primary History article
What is a trade directory?
Trade directories are the equivalent of the telephone directory and the Yellow Pages. They were published on a county or city basis every year and contain detailed descriptions of every village and town in the county. They also contain pages and pages of advertisements, for...
What can you do with a Victorian Trade Directory…?
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Primary History 94: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 94
It may be tempting to imagine that a stream of good authors send in a range of articles and all that is needed is to tidy them up a bit and publish. If this were the case there would be no need for an editorial board....
Primary History 94: Out now
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Building history connections with the local community
Primary History article
St George’s is a Quality Mark school. Part of what impressed the assessors was the way that the school was able to extend its 150th anniversary to include the wider community of Mossley. Many schools have links with their local community but this article shows that sometimes this can be more...
Building history connections with the local community
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Primary History 102: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 102
As the days lengthen and the first signs of spring begin to appear, there is a renewed sense of energy in our classrooms. Spring always feels like an invitation: to open the doors, to step outside, and to think differently about where and how history learning...
Primary History 102: Out now
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A view from the classroom: Teachers TV, The Staffordshire Hoard And 'Doing History'
Primary History article
When the Historical Association was approached by Teachers' TV to produce ‘Great Ideas for Teaching History' at Key Stage 2, it was inevitable that I, as a full time teacher on the Primary Committee, would have no escape. My school agreed I could take part, with the involvement of two...
A view from the classroom: Teachers TV, The Staffordshire Hoard And 'Doing History'
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Primary History 103: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 103
This edition appears too early to reflect the National Curriculum history refresh. Although this is being done by a team co-ordinated by the Historical Association and colleagues are already busy, there seems no point in giving in to speculation and idle gossip. The changes will be...
Primary History 103: Out now
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The digital revolution
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Developments in information technology continue at an extraordinary pace. Many young children will have little or no idea of what it was like to live in a world without mobile phones, computers and the Internet.
Most children will regularly make use...
The digital revolution
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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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Primary History 95: Out now
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Read Primary History 95
Welcome to Primary History 95! We are now well into the first term of the new school year, and it is heartening to know that children around the country will have been rediscovering the joy of history once again.
As historians we are privileged to explore the treasures...
Primary History 95: Out now
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Local fires as a subject of historical enquiry
Primary History article
The Great Fire of London is a popular Key Stage 1 history topic. In this article, James explores the widespread occurrence of ‘great’ fires and the potential of local examples for historical enquiry. Comparison between London and these local fires allows for discussion of similarities and differences in terms of...
Local fires as a subject of historical enquiry
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Local People and Places in the Early Years
Article
Learning in the Early Years through Local People and Places: developing historical concepts in the Early Years Foundation Stage
Using the local environment as a starting point for historical learning in EYFS not only helps young children engage and make learning meaningful and relevant, but also helps them develop a strong sense of identity. Working...
Local People and Places in the Early Years
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Using Local Buildings
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Whilst there are many obvious historical buildings - castles, Roman Villas and Abbeys these often involve transport costs which may be beyond a school budget. Turner-Bisset suggests:
There is also history in ordinary, everyday sites,...
Using Local Buildings
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Case Study: Historical information and the local community
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The ICT revolution
A paper register, a pink-lined A4 mark book and a written school log book are surely historical artefacts? The transition from paper to digital technology continues, changing the world of the classroom teacher whose working life like mine,...
Case Study: Historical information and the local community
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Opportunities for making use of your local park
Primary History article
Local parks are important local amenities that both enhance our wellbeing and provide an important contribution to the environment, especially in urban areas. This article identifies ways in which you can explore your local park, an amenity that, is familiar to most children, within its historical perspective. It considers resources...
Opportunities for making use of your local park
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Using a local historical figure as a stimulus for history in the English National Curriculum
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial comment: Ben Screech indicates how new trainees are being trained to adapt to the opportunities that the Historical, Geographical and Social Studies area of the New National Curriculum offers.
Using a local historical figure as a stimulus for history in the English National Curriculum
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Visits and Museums
Primary History article
Introduction
In February (2012) Michael Gove announced that he was awarding English Heritage £2.7m to encourage children to explore local heritage sites. Who could disagree with his view that ‘local historic environments can be used to inspire pupils by bringing history alive'? However, why stop there? Any visit to a...
Visits and Museums
