Whole School

As part of a broad and balanced curriculum, history should find a place at the heart of school life, providing enrichment through trips and projects, through cross-curricular links and through whole school activities such as assemblies. In this section you will find resources and guidance to ensure history enjoys a high profile across the whole school.

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  • In My View: Creativity & History

    Article

    Introduction A great deal has been written recently defining what is meant by creativity in primary education. And much has been written urging us to ‘teach creatively'. Yet there had been no exploration of what teaching creatively means in terms of teaching history until a group of colleagues and I...

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  • Insights from a year of leading the development of a ‘knowledge-rich curriculum’

    Article

    Raynville Primary School serves a highly disadvantaged area of West Leeds and we work hard to provide our children with the best opportunities to learn and enjoy their time with us. One jewel in the crown of our school’s curriculum is children’s historical learning as part of a knowledge-rich curriculum....

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  • Museums, schools and creativity: How learning can be enhanced

    Article

    What do we mean by creativity?In the last few years there has been an emphasis on the ‘creative curriculum', ‘creativity' and ‘creative teaching and learning', but there has not always been a shared understanding of what this means. This article uses the definition from ‘Creativity - find it, promote it'...

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  • Museums: Entries to Learning

    Article

    Editorial comment: Mick Waters raises the crucial point of awe and wonder - the visceral, affective impact ‘the real thing' can have on pupils and adults. One rider is the need to give the onlooker a clear, full explanation of the objects so they can come to life in their...

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  • Planning for history - the coordinator's perspective

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial note: Cathie's paper can be used as a checklist of action points for the planning of Programmes of Study incorporating history. Starting points If you are responsible for leading teaching and learning in history, there...

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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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  • Progression and coherence in history

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. "The focus for much of the planning and the teaching is on pockets of knowledge at basic levels. Thus, the notion that pupils can progress and do better over time in history is not well established...

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  • Success with primary history: overcoming the challenges

    Article

    Primary history seems to be a curious mixture of the successful and successful.    On the one hand most children seem to love it and many teachers claim to enjoy teaching it.    There is certainly no shortage of good practice in many schools and exciting and stimulating resources are plentiful.  On...

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  • Teaching famous people at key stage one

    Article

    The draft English NC for history highlights the study of ‘significant individuals and people'. Michelle Dexter provides an insight on how to approach this biographical requirement; it also opens up biography as a major genre for pupils to master - augmenting their development of literacy...

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  • The Interactive Whiteboard or Smart Board

    Article

    The interactive whiteboard [smartboard] has opened a pathway to explore sources and develop historical interest for children of all ages. It can be used in varied ways that allow a teacher to customise activities to match their intended outcomes. Support for this comes from the growth of easily accessible online databases...

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  • The National Curriculum for History from September 2014: the view from Ofsted

    Article

    IntroductionWith the publication on 11 September 2013 of the final version of the revised National Curriculum for September 2014, subject leaders and classroom teachers could start to consider the implications of the proposed changes. For history at Key Stages 1 and 2, some parts of the programmes of study are...

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  • The digital revolution

    Article

    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 of devices such as smart phones, digital cameras and...

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  • Time, Chronology, language and story

    Article

    Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Time, although an extremely complex, abstract concept, is one that begins to develop in children's minds as soon as they are born. Although it cannot be seen or touched and leaves no visible trace, very young...

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  • Towards inclusion: A study of significant figures and disability within the national curriculum

    Article

    Since the early days of the National Curriculum, considerable progress has been made to introduce children to an inclusive view of history. The research of the late Hilary Claire (1996) served as a major impetus and now primary teachers strive to ensure that no groups or individuals are marginalised, particularly...

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  • Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times

    Article

    Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Classic fiction provides useful sources of information for investigating the lives, beliefs and values of people in the past. In this article Ann Cowling describes activities undertaken with student teachers which may also serve as models...

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  • V&A Schools SEN Programme

    Article

    The V&A Learning Department aims to make the Museum's collections accessible to all through an engaging and diverse range of events, courses, workshops, trails and resources. The Schools programme supports Primary and Secondary students and teachers and includes sessions for students with special educational needs. The SEN sessions have a...

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  • Whole-school planning for progression

    Article

    The challenge for subject leaders and school leadership teams continues to be managing the tension between what history has to offer your vision for learning and your children's entitlement to a high-quality history education. The new national curriculum has ensured that this year you have had a close look at...

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