General

Foundation Stage planning is a very different approach to Key Stage 1 or 2. Children in Nursery and Reception classes often have ‘continuous provision” - a variety of activities which children are free to move around among and choose for themselves. Sometimes activities will be provided where the teacher or classroom support works with all the children at different points during the week. Read more

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  • EYFS Medium Term Plan - Toys and Games

    Article

    This EYFS Medium Term Plan is based around the theme of Toys and Games. It is designed to give teachers and early years practitioners different starting points for learning about the past, across all areas of learning. The activities could be led with a whole class or as small group...

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  • How to incorporate EYFS as a subject leader

    Article

    As a subject leader you often have a lot on your plate and not always the time provided to do so. I have always been fortunate in that I have had support but I appreciate that in certain schools it can be difficult to fit everything in. Hopefully with this...

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  • Using stories to support history in the EYFS

    Article

    Stories can be used as starting points for planning topics. Activities suggested below relate to ‘Understanding the world’ including Early Learning Goal 13 – People and communities:  Children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know about similarities and...

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  • Pupil voice: Democratising history lessons in Key Stage 1

    Article

    Why is pupil voice important? Children are at the centre of everything we do and safeguarding their well-being and ensuring their progress across the curriculum is a key emphasis for schools. Recognising the importance of pupil voice in this is key. Robin Alexander’s Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk (2017)...

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  • Primary History Summer Resource 2019: Diversity

    Article

    This free summer resource for primary members is designed to help primary subject leaders and teachers consider the implications of developing a school policy for teaching of diversity in history. This comprehensive guide provides timely advice and considers questions associated with teaching diversity and provides a rationale for its essential role in providing an understanding...

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  • Primary history and British values

    Article

    In this article, Michael Maddison provides an overview of what schools must do in relation to promoting British values, as well as preventing extremism and radicalisation, and why it is so important that opportunities are taken in history to  deal with these two pressing issues. It is an updated version...

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  • Using artefacts to develop young children’s understanding of the past

    Article

    In the children’s picture book Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Wilfrid is a small boy who meets Miss Nancy, an old lady who has lost her memory. Wilfrid wants to help, and so he carefully fills a basket with special objects and takes them to her. He places a medal in...

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  • Role play and the past

    Article

    The role-play area is often the most popular feature of a foundation stage classroom. For children, it's a source of great fun; for Early Years teachers, it is a wonderful way to develop pupils' language, communication and social development skills. An effective role-play area can also be instrumental in helping...

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  • KS1: Teaching about significant individuals

    Article

    Teaching about significant individuals at Key Stage 1. Workshop by Professor Penelope Hartnett, University of the West of England The history programme of study for Key Stage 1 requires pupils to be taught about: The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements, some...

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  • The importance of history vocabulary

    Article

    Teachers and schools should surely be forgiven for quickly turning to the pages containing the ‘subject content' - within the new 2014 history curriculum - and finding out ‘what' they should be teaching. This is especially true for Key Stage 2 where children must now learn British history from the...

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  • What your local Archive Service can offer to schools

    Article

    Imagine a place where your pupils become detectives working on mysteries from the past such as the tale of Thomas Sargeant, a 15-year-old factory worker who died in a chemical works in 1898. Your local archive is bursting with stories about real people like this which can give children an...

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  • Using 'Development Matters' in the Foundation stage

    Article

    Using ‘Development Matters' to plan learning for history in the Foundation stage You won't find the term history in the Early Years curriculum framework at all. That being so, it can be difficult to know how best to support our Nursery and Reception colleagues when developing historical understanding within the...

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  • Ideas for Assemblies: Lest we forget

    Article

    Over the next three editions of Primary History our assemblies pages will be linked to the theme of commemorating the First World War. We have found that while many teachers wish to remember these events in school, they are unsure how to approach the subject with primary aged children. It...

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  • Implementing the 2014 curriculum in Year 2

    Article

    The chance to pilot the new National Curriculum presented me with the opportunity I was looking for to revamp a tired Year 2 curriculum. I began teaching in Year 2 two years ago, having previously spent five years working in Key Stage 2. As in many other schools across the...

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  • Tackling the Key Stage 1 Curriculum Interview

    Multipage Article

    Here, in this series of films, the Year 2 teacher, Paula Granger, discusses the challenges they faced, what decisions they made, what worked well and what didn't quite work the way they intended, and how they coped. She also discusses the changes they decided to make for this year in...

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  • Including the Muslim Contribution in the National Curriculum for History

    Article

    History education has a key role to play in creating the informed, critical attachment of young people to the nation and in creating the feeling that young people belong and can participate in national life. The Curriculum for Cohesion Team, comprising Muslim and non-Muslim academics and community leaders, believes that...

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  • A History of the World: 100 objects that tell a story

    Article

    ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects' was the most creative, imaginative and dynamic development in primary History Education for thirty years. It ties in perfectly with and supports the government's draft NC for History...

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  • Helping pupils to view historical film critically

    Article

    Introduction: The teaching potential of film Films about historical events seem like the nearest thing we can give our pupils to a time machine. In commercial film, the physical appearance of the past has often been carefully researched, thus a snippet from Gladiator, for example, can give pupils some idea of...

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  • The Olympics and ICT in the Foundation Stage

    Article

    Introduction This year has been an incredibly rich time for young children to gain an understanding of their place in history and also that history is something they are part of and can influence. The use of technology to support this learning has been invaluable. ICT has had a huge impact...

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  • Bring on the iPad revolution

    Article

    The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic games celebrated change whilst demonstrating the challenges revolutions have on the world. From green pastures to belching chimneystacks, from post-war Britain to the World Wide Internet and text messaging, the way society interacts is changing at an incomprehensible rate. The same could be...

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