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HA activities and impact
10th November 2025
An understanding of history has the potential to change lives. The HA’s continuing work seeks to empower learners at every age and level to access high quality history education, inside and outside of formal learning contexts. We want everyone to be able to engage with, debate, examine and shape history.
In...
HA activities and impact
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Inspiring History Teaching Awards
Historic Royal Palaces launches brand-new Inspiring History Teaching Awards in association with the Historical Association
Entries to this year's awards have now closed. National and regional winners will be announced on Wednesday 25 March 2026. The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday 20 June 2026 at the Tower of London, where the overall winner will be announced.
Historic Royal Palaces’ launched the inaugural Inspiring History...
Inspiring History Teaching Awards
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Teaching History 76
The HA's journal for history teachers
6 I Thought It Was For Picking Bones Out Of Soup ... Using Artefacts In The Primary School - Liz Smith and Cathie Holden
10 Understanding Ethnocentrism: History Teachers Talking - Janet Maw
17 Critical History? - Rob Isaac
19 Language Use and Problem Solving in Primary History - Patricia Hoodless...
Teaching History 76
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Urban spaces cross-curricular work: Literacy
Article
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This is part of a set of subject areas also covering History, Science, and Art & Design.
See also Cross-curricular learning
Public spaces offer a range of opportunities for children's learning, and can enable children to investigate, observe, wonder, record and create....
Urban spaces cross-curricular work: Literacy
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The Spanish Armada
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This is a highly interactive and stimulating simulation for years 3 and 4, and a very effective way of involving children in a range of issues.
We introduced the story of the Armada, outlining the main parties involved and the nature...
The Spanish Armada
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How the Tudors came to power
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The lessons described introduced a unit on the Tudors through the Battle of Bosworth.
In literacy, we had been learning how to identify key words and use these when writing notes. We had focused on information books, in particular a book...
How the Tudors came to power
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Lincolnshire Branch History
Branch History
Brief History of the Lincolnshire Branch.When the branch was founded There was a successful branch of the Historical Association in Lincolnshire after World War Two, centred in Boston, and run by staff from the schools there. In 1999, when I moved to Lincolnshire, I discovered there was no longer a...
Lincolnshire Branch History
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The Great Debate Final 2024
25th March 2024
Winner:
Emma Crow of Broxburn Academy, Broxburn, Scotland
Runners up:
Abigail Powers of The Ladies’ College, Guernsey
Erica Wright of William Farr School, Lincolnshire
Rachel McGarry of Shavington Academy, Crewe, Cheshire
Finalists
Sofia Ntege, North Oxfordshire Academy, Banbury
Harry Gray, Exeter School, Exeter
Rhea Cherrington, Bablake School, Coventry
Molly Grimshaw,...
The Great Debate Final 2024
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Polychronicon 130: Dental, transcendental, regimental: Making Mangal Pandey
Teaching History feature
Have you stuggled to find an invigorating, exciting local enquiry to motivate your Year 9 class ? How do you engage students in lively debate? This was the challenge for one Norfolk school who wanted to develop a local study on the Poor Law and to create opportunities for students...
Polychronicon 130: Dental, transcendental, regimental: Making Mangal Pandey
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Celebrating success and recognising achievements – the Quality Mark evening!
The Historical Association's Quality Mark for History
On Friday 8 November 2024 there was a glittering event for those schools who have achieved the Quality Mark (QM) for History. We wanted to celebrate those who have put in the hard work and dedication to raise the standard of education, awareness, knowledge and enjoyment of history teaching in their...
Celebrating success and recognising achievements – the Quality Mark evening!
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The strange power of hats: using artefacts and role play in cross-phase, cross-curricular and community partnership work
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
It is a strange phenomenon of history education that the power of hats is little reported and little researched- so here is an article that says hats off to hats in history lessons, as well as hats off to artefacts, sound recordings...
The strange power of hats: using artefacts and role play in cross-phase, cross-curricular and community partnership work
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Triumphs Show 182: A public lecture series
Teaching History feature
The history we present to students, however rigorous and challenging, and however full of integrity in eflecting history as a discipline, is a shiny show of our best resources. Peeling back this curtain and allowing students to see the real world of academic history was a major motivation in inviting some...
Triumphs Show 182: A public lecture series
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Chichester Branch Programme
Article
Enquiries to Mr Alex Bristow alexjbristow@outlook.com 01903 505554
Meetings start at 7.30 pm (except January at 2.30 pm) at Friends Meeting House, Priory Road, Chichester, PO19 1NX. Meetings are expected to finish by 9 pm (4 pm on Saturday). Light refreshments available from 7 pm (2 pm on Saturday).
Admission is...
Chichester Branch Programme
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The Historian 163: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 163: Ukraine
The third year of Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine is slowly drawing to a close, with no end to it in sight. Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine in hope of a quick capitulation was, however, only the last stage of a longer process...
The Historian 163: Out now
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Using Nursery Rhymes to develop children's knowledge and understanding of the past
Primary History article
Nursery rhymes are good sources of evidence about the past and their potential for developing children's understanding has been discussed in earlier editions of Primary History (Woodhouse: 2005, 2001; Cooper: 2005; Primary History : 2000) They may be used as starting points to provide information about past ways of life...
Using Nursery Rhymes to develop children's knowledge and understanding of the past
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Triumphs Show 110: Would you sacrifice watching television for Great Britain?
Teaching History feature
This lesson has worked well with higher ability whole classes and with smaller groups with Special Educational Needs. It is essentially a citizenship exercise. It encourages pupils to explore their own values, to justify these values through argument and, through discussion, to understand and accept that others might hold different...
Triumphs Show 110: Would you sacrifice watching television for Great Britain?
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Reading Branch History
Branch History
Brief outline history of the Reading Branch of the Historical AssociationReading is one of the places to have had a branch before the First World War, between 1908 and 1911 as was shown in The Historian, ‘The Branches of the Historical Association 1906-2006'. The story of the current Reading Branch,...
Reading Branch History
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Planning with literacy
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
History is a subject which of necessity makes extensive use of language in all its forms and so the links with literacy are many. Cooper (2000), Bage (1999), Hoodless (1998) and Nichol, in the Nuffield History...
Planning with literacy
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HA Branches in the East of England
Branch details by region
Cambridge Branch
Enquiries to Branch President Dr Sean Lang sf_lang@hotmail.com
Cambridge Branch Programme
Essex Branch
Talks on Saturdays, 2.30pm, Trinity Methodist Church, Rainsford Road, Chelmsford, CM1 2XB. Please check the calendar on this website for details.
Visitors and prospective members warmly welcomed - £3, Associate Members fee £10.00 / £15.00 for 2 members...
HA Branches in the East of England
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Primary History 62: History & ICT
The primary education journal of the Historical Association
Editorial and In My View
04 Editorial
05 Using ICT to develop pupils' historical knowledge, understanding and thinking: the view from Ofsted - Michael Maddison HMI
06 The digital revolution - Jerome Freeman (Read article)
07 History, ICT and the digital age - Ben Walsh (Read article)
Features
08 Diogenes: English...
Primary History 62: History & ICT
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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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Secondary Committee biographies
Information
Find out more about the HA's committees here
Sally Burnham (committee chair)
Sally is a history teacher in a school in Lincolnshire and also works one day a week at the University of Nottingham on the History PGCE. Sally has been a Head of Department and is now a Lead...
Secondary Committee biographies
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Cardiff Branch Programme
Article
Cardiff Branch Programme 2025-26
All enquiries to Professor Peter Edbury Edbury@cardiff.ac.uk or Dr Paul Webster WebsterP@cardiff.ac.uk
All talks start at 7pm via Zoom or Teams. A link to the talk is provided by email from Dr Webster.
All talks are free and Zoom/Teams allow us to have speakers...
Cardiff Branch Programme
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Essex Branch Programme
Article
Talks on Saturdays, 2.30pm, Trinity Methodist Church, Rainsford Road, Chelmsford, CM1 2XB.
Please check the calendar on this website for details.
Visitors and prospective members warmly welcomed - £5, Associate Members fee £15.00 / £20.00 for 2 members at same address
Branch Contact: Tony Tuckwell: 01245 256423 tonytuckwell28@outlook.com
For further...
Essex Branch Programme
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Circle Time in the secondary history classroom
Teaching History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Circle Time is a commonly used technique in primary classrooms and is sometimes used in secondary personal and social education lessons. This open form of classroom organisation allows pupils to share opinions in a democratic...
Circle Time in the secondary history classroom
