Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial note: John Fines produced two case studies of Local History for the Nuffield Primary History Project. One on them is published here for the first time.

IntroductionIn this short paper you will discover some of the tools for ‘doing' local history. They are based on where I live: you can get similar types of sources from where you live, work or teach. Your main source will be a local library or record office, but there is...

In her article in Primary History No 21, Jayne Woodhouse highlighted that the study of history needn’t be all about national events. Essentially it is a series of stories, often about ordinary people and their ordinary lives, which can be built up from the evidence available in archives and artefacts....

As a lecturer in education teaching humanities at Plymouth University, I spend my time encouraging student teachers to move away from writing lesson plans with a focus on research and recording, to creating lessons that are dynamic – engaging children in historical activities to develop a passion for history. Student...

Primary History's editorial team set me the challenge of seeing how useful ICT would be in my teaching. The challenge was timely, as I recently inherited a Year Six History class with its unit of work "Life in Britain since the 1930s". Having taught predominantly KS1, this invoked both feelings of...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Editorial note: This short paper introduces a highly creative, imaginative and enthralling case-study of a local history project for year 6 pupils. The teaching programme has a chronological spine that provides coherence and focus. Chronology is...

At Key Stage 1 children should learn about significant events, (e.g. the Great Fire of London) and about people and places in their locality. At Key Stage 2 they should learn about British settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots (e.g. Anglo-Saxon art and culture) and do a local history study (e.g....

Please note: this article was originally written in early 2014 for schools needing to prepare schemes of work for the new National Curriculum coming into effect that September.   The implementation from September 2014 of the new national curriculum programme of study for history gives you a time-scale for reviewing, refreshing and resourcing your new scheme...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Death is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues that teachers encounter, linked inextricably as it is to identity. I think it sometimes escapes our attention that, as teachers of history, we constantly deal...

Events which encapsulate family, community, national and global history provide rich opportunities for engaging children. Some of these draw on positive memories associated with past events: the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, how people responded to the first flight to the moon, the Millennium celebrations. Yet it is perhaps gruelling...

How do we engage young people with their Heritage, answer curriculum needs and make that big leap of transition from primary to secondary school that bit easier? English Heritage's Geosong treasure hunt website went some way to providing answers. What does the website do? Using handheld GPS devices, groups must...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. This is a reflection on a project, set up with a variety of different thoughts about education in its widest sense. Or, to put it another way, a primary school teacher's record of a unique...

Home Front Legacy 1914-18 is your opportunity to research, discover and record the remains of the First World War Home Front in the United Kingdom. This partnership project, co-ordinated by the Council for British Archaeology with support and funding from Historic England, is open to everyone. You don’t need any...

Primary History regularly contains articles from teachers who have taken some aspect of their locality and turned it into a really good activity. Hundreds of OFSTED reports as well, comment on really good practice in local history and children and their parents (perhaps, even more the grandparents) have got caught...

Historical anniversaries and events are often in the news, commemorated locally and nationally. I have found that getting the children involved in topics relating to these can really help them feel the importance of their learning, help them to appreciate the past and feel a sense of responsibility – a...

Making a museum in your setting or classroom is easy and children can learn all kinds of historical skills as well as developing their mark making and writing. Tees Valley Museums are a consortium of seven venues across the Tees Valley. Together they have created online support to develop a museum...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. Master and Mistress of the Workhouse refused to talk to any of us as she was adamant that nothing she could remember would be very interesting! Of course disappointments like this have to be accepted and...

In recent times, it is easy to recognize that there has been a general move towards promoting outside activities across all manner of organizations and groups. For instance, organisations such as The National Trust and Ordnance Survey are keen to promote outdoor experiences in their literature. An online presence advocates...

Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated. First let me say that I did not research the materials used or plan this lesson. For this I must acknowledge, with thanks, that this is the work of my colleague, Mike Huggins, and the senior...

Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated. Why teach children about architecture and the built environment? Because they shape the future and because they already change our architecture and define the public realm everyday through their actions. Learning about architecture and the built...