Exemplars & Study Units

The Nuffield Primary History project developed a range of approaches and techniques for doing history with children, between and 1991 and 2009. The resources produced by the project are all real lessons which have been taught by real teachers. They include guidance on teaching and examples of children's work. Many of the lessons have been developed by teachers as part of their continuing professional development. A narrative style was used to describe the lesson and what happened. Read more

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  • Story-telling and simulation exemplar: The Great Exeter Fish War of 1309

    Article

    The lesson was taught to 44 Year 3 children in a first school in Exeter. It describes how a story was used to introduce a local history unit, and how we followed it up. To begin, we sat the children on the carpet and told them John Hooker's story about...

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  • Teaching Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings in Britain

    Article

    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 Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings ‘Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings' is the...

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  • Teaching the Ancient Greeks: an introduction

    Article

    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 guide was written before the new National Curriculum...

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  • Tudor World Lessons

    Article

    Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum. Lessons available on this site. See also these short lesson exemplars: Finding out about Tudor life from topic books, Columbus a hero? (discussion and debate) and Columbus (story-telling). Lessons ReformationHow the Tudors came to PowerQueen Elizabeth ITudor Portraits: Who am I?Spanish...

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  • Using objects and writing KS1 exemplar: Old and new telephones

    Article

    Lynn Cowell's Year 2 class were doing a project on old and new telephones, with the primary aim of developing the children's skills in investigating objects. During the project, I visited the class once a week. Lynn and I began by showing the children four telephones: a candlestick phone, an...

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  • Using sites and the environment exemplar: a visit to Petworth House, Sussex

    Article

    A Year 5 class of 27 children were to visit the North Gallery at Petworth House in Sussex, where the 3rd Earl of Egremont kept his collection of sculptures and pictures. If the children were to learn I needed to give them a focus and a purpose.PreparationBeforehand, in the classroom,...

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  • Victorian Britain - Lessons

    Article

    Please note: these free resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum. You could start the Victorians with a story. See the Victorian chimney sweep short lesson exemplar and the Upstairs Downstairs story in the History section of the Urban Spaces material. Lessons and short lesson exemplars available on this site: Victorian Britain: short...

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  • Victorian Britain: short lessons and exemplars

    Multipage Article

    Please note: these resources pre-date the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. A series of lessons, exemplars and guides to help you teach your students about Victorian Britain.

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  • Visual image and discussion exemplar: questioning a photograph

    Article

    Almost more than any other source a photograph provides an incentive to dig, to burrow, to stretch, to tease out, to investigate and follow up leads. A good starter activity. We used a photo in this way to begin our Britain since 1930 unit with a mixed Year 5/6 class....

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  • Visual image exemplar: Using pictures of Sutton Hoo objects

    Article

    Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. The Sutton Hoo ship burial contained a king's ransom in gold and jewellery. Indeed, it contained the worldly and spiritual goods needed for the king's voyage into the next world. But...

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  • ‘So why did they go into hiding?’ Anne Frank in her historical and social context

    Article

    All too often Anne Frank becomes a symbol, used to show ‘the triumph of hope over evil’, even though she was killed during the Holocaust. Sometimes she is quoted utterly out of context to provide uplifting sentiments, or short phrases with redemptive messages.  What this lesson sets out to do...

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