The series consists of seven webinars. The live session dates are detailed below.

Devising and using rigorous historical enquiry questions to lead learning in primary history (FREE for HA members)

Monday 13 January 2025, 4pm–5pm

This webinar will guide teachers on how to devise rigorous historical enquiry questions, how to spot and weed out weak ones, and how to sequence them in an effective way across medium-term plans. It will show how disciplinary concepts can be revisited and pupils supported in the careful accumulation of substantive knowledge, adding to their schema progressively over time.

Making the most effective use of core literacy texts chosen on a history theme

Wednesday 29 January 2025, 4pm-5pm

There are many fine core texts that can enhance primary history and magnify its curricular impact. This practical webinar will show how to plan carefully when using these texts, exploring some of the advantages this can bring while avoiding corresponding pitfalls. Careful consideration will be given to the setting of subject-specific and general literacy objectives and tasks.

Using stories and storytelling in the primary history classroom

Thursday 6 February 2025, 4pm-5pm

This webinar will explore the different ways stories and storytelling can be used in primary history: as an evocative way of conveying substantive knowledge for retrieval, and as a stimulus to hook pupils’ initial interest and curiosity. It will also show how pupils can be helped to test the reliability of stories as historical interpretations, by comparing them with the original evidence on which they are based.

Using the work of historians in the primary history classroom

Thursday 20 February 2025, 4pm–5pm

This webinar will show how the writing and insights of real historians can be used across medium-term plans in primary history. It will give examples of how historians' ideas can be simplified for presentation in different ways, how their methods can be echoed for pupils in tasking, and how pupils can explore the original evidence historians use to support their conclusions - including how pupils can test the validity of these conclusions as historical interpretations.

Helping pupils articulate their understanding of history through speaking and listening

Wednesday 5 March 2025, 4pm–5pm

This webinar will look at the vital role speaking and listening plays in helping pupils to think, read and write in historical ways as well as developing general oracy skills. It will explore a range of strategies and tasking that can help pupils deepen their historical understanding, gain a better grasp of complex ideas, and learn how to articulate these so that they can reach (and justify) independent conclusions of their own.

Developing formative and extended writing in primary history

Thursday 20 March 2025, 4pm–5pm

This webinar will demonstrate how giving pupils opportunities to write formatively can capture their understanding at given points in a learning episode, helping them to structure their developing thinking and supporting teachers in spotting and correcting misconceptions in good time. It will consider effective ways of challenging pupils to write at length, including various forms of writing frames linked to the development of disciplinary concepts, and supporting pupils in reaching independent conclusions of their own. It will also show how all these strategies can be important contributions to the development of general literacy.

Developing visual literacy in the primary history classroom

Wednesday 2 April 2025, 4pm–5pm

This practical webinar will explore the way images and film can be used in primary history, whether these are of original source material (such as artefacts), or historical interpretations created after a period to illustrate it for later generations. It will consider ways of helping pupils to analyse these historical sources of evidence, drawing inferences from them and then learning how to test these out against current historical thinking.

The course is for history subject leaders and anyone who teaches at Key Stage 1 or 2.

This webinar series will enable you to:

• - Gain insight into how to plan for pupils to think, read, write, speak and listen in an historical way
• - Gain insight into how primary history can contribute rigorously to developing general literacy without compromising subject-specific objectives

The webinars will be led by Andrew Wrenn FHA, an experienced history consultant and teacher educator. A former head of history and cross-phase local authority adviser for history and humanities, he is a longstanding contributor to the HA across both primary and secondary. This includes articles for Primary History and Teaching History, presentations at conferences, and online and in-person CPD. He is an assessor for the HA Quality Mark.

All prices are listed inclusive of VAT. Any webinar booked individually on Cademy will incur an additional fee.

To access the member price please provide your membership number when prompted. You must have a valid membership at the time of booking and attending. All webinars in this series are eligible for the corporate member free recording offer.

The webinars will take place online over Zoom. While we strongly recommend participating live, if you are unable to attend for any reason a recording link will be made available. This will be emailed to all registered participants to access for a limited period.

To book for multiple webinars or request an invoice, please complete the form below.

If you have missed a session, a recording can be accessed using the form. You will be emailed an invoice for the cost of the recording(s) and a time-limited link to access the webinar recording on Zoom.