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Pull-out posters: Primary History 93
Coronations
Poster 1: What continuities and change can you see in coronations from the distant to recent past?
Poster 2: Some objects used or presented at a coronation
Pull-out posters: Primary History 93
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Curriculum plan: Ancient Greece
Primary History, Years 5 and 6
Welcome to our new look curriculum plans. Log in below to access the unit.
Before you delve into our plan on Ancient Greece with author Andrew Wrenn, take a look at this short film from Steve Mastin, outlining our approach to curriculum plans and what to look for in a...
Curriculum plan: Ancient Greece
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What’s in your pocket, Peg?
Primary History article
What’s in your pocket, Peg? is a story book about Jersey which experienced German occupation throughout most of World War II. We wanted to create a book that appealed to children across different primary age groups, helping them to imagine the first-hand life experiences of a child alive at that time. The...
What’s in your pocket, Peg?
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The Great Exhibition of 1851: teaching a significant event at Key Stage 1
Primary History article
The Great Exhibition allows pupils to consider the impact of a particular event. The exhibition provides a means to look at Britain’s wider role in the world and social and technical developments such as the impact of the railways. Pupils can explore a variety of sources, consider the substantive concepts...
The Great Exhibition of 1851: teaching a significant event at Key Stage 1
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Exploring the past through active enquiry
Primary History article
Story and enquiry – that’s what I think of when considering history. The stories of events and people pull you into the past and stories generate a curiosity that encourages exploration. ‘Finding out’ is central to what we do in history. Our early-years classrooms must provide vibrant and challenging environments...
Exploring the past through active enquiry
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Teaching about Remembrance Day in EYFS
Primary History article
Remembrance Day (11 November) is an important time for children to learn about how we choose to both represent and remember significant events in the past. Within EYFS, learning about remembrance most obviously lends itself to Understanding the World – with a focus on children making connections between past and present,...
Teaching about Remembrance Day in EYFS
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Trade – lifeblood of the empire: how trade affected life in Roman Britain
Primary History article
The Ofsted Research Review: History highlights the importance of developing children’s understanding of key substantive concepts, ideas that are woven through historical content such as settlement, invasion, power. Children’s understanding grows more complex as they encounter these ideas in different contexts, enabling children to grow increasingly sophisticated schemas that support future...
Trade – lifeblood of the empire: how trade affected life in Roman Britain
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Bringing an archaeologist into the classroom
Primary History article
The past as represented in school history textbooks and websites is adapted to meet the needs of primary-aged children, but the knowledge on which this depends derives from detailed academic research. Engaging children with historians and archaeologists can show them how we learn about and construct our understanding of history...
Bringing an archaeologist into the classroom
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Timelines in teaching history
Primary History article
‘History is about time, it subsists in time, time is the medium by which it happens’ (John Fines, Primary History 59, 2011). Yet the fact that time is fundamental to the study of history does not make it any easier to teach (Hoodless, 2008). The abstract nature of time as a concept is...
Timelines in teaching history
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One of my favourite history places: Neuschwanstein Castle
Primary History feature
Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle is a dramatic if seemingly unreal experience and for this reason it is one of my favourite historical sites. The castle is situated on the slopes of the Alps in Bavaria, close to the village of Hohenschwangau, overlooking low-lying plains to the north. The ornate turrets, Romanesque windows...
One of my favourite history places: Neuschwanstein Castle
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Pull-out Posters: Primary History 73
Map of ancient civilisations
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 73
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The gall nuts and lapis trail
Primary History article
We are used to images of monks copying out texts in a very ornate manner. Books such as the Lindisfarne Gospels still absolutely amaze us with their colour, style and appearance. It must have taken hours and hours to copy out a text like that.
But how was it done? And how did the monks make the inks they...
The gall nuts and lapis trail
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Coherence in primary history: How can we get children to see that their history links up?
Primary History article
No teacher ever wants to claim that their history curriculum is incoherent. All schools want to have a curriculum that is logically ordered and consistent, that has clarity and that holds together. It is easy to assume that how we see this coherence as adults must also translate to the...
Coherence in primary history: How can we get children to see that their history links up?
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Sporting legacy: the history of endeavour
Primary History article
One of the highlights of 2021 for many people was getting up early over the summer and avidly watching events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics unfold: feats of bravery and endurance, heartbreak and celebration. It will, of course, enter the history books and the pub quiz questions, not least because...
Sporting legacy: the history of endeavour
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(Un)exceptional women: queenship and power in medieval Europe
Historian article
How was the power of a Queen described and how far did It extend? In this article some of the most important queens of the Medieval period are examined for the authority they were able to wield.
When we think of queens, the idea that they are extraordinary women, elevated to the highest status...
(Un)exceptional women: queenship and power in medieval Europe
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Think like an archaeologist!
Primary History article
Since the great brick-built cities of Mohenjodaro and Harappa were first excavated in the early twentieth century, other large and thousands of small sites have been discovered. Clay was the raw material (bricks) for Indus architecture and everyday objects. Pottery was produced in industrial quantities on the foot wheel, an...
Think like an archaeologist!
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Ten texts for the Platinum Jubilee
Primary History article
With the Platinum Jubilee approaching later this year and celebrations planned for June 2022, here is a round-up of ten fiction and non-fiction books which will help you plan and find resources for your school celebrations...
Ten texts for the Platinum Jubilee
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Using photographic evidence to explore the impact of the Berlin Wall
Primary History article
I remember being struck by the quote from Primo Levi when leaving Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam. He stated that ‘One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did but whose faces have remained in the shadows’. While not trying to make...
Using photographic evidence to explore the impact of the Berlin Wall
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Back to basics: using maps in primary history
Primary History article
Maps tend to be more associated with geography but they have always been vital to history. This article focuses on the way maps have evolved in history, what they provide for the historian and ways in which they can be used when teaching primary history. A chronological account of the...
Back to basics: using maps in primary history
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Primary History summer resource 2022: Museum visits
Primary member resource
This year's free summer resource for primary members looks at making the most of museum visits.
Museums and sites provide rich sensory environments that engage children's curiosity and allow them to explore through all their senses. Museums and sites transmit the past through a variety of perspectives, provide authenticity and present historical evidence. The experiential nature of museum visits encourages genuine...
Primary History summer resource 2022: Museum visits
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One of my favourite history places: Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds
Primary History article
When I was born my family lived in Kirkstall close to the Abbey and Abbey House Museum. We moved to Ireland Wood not long after this photograph was taken (I am the small one in the middle) but if we ever had a day out in the city we would...
One of my favourite history places: Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds
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Wangari Maathai as a significant individual
Primary History article
"Instead of a curriculum where race, gender and disability are mainly rooted in victim narratives, include positive representation. Go beyond teaching slavery and the Holocaust or gender narratives of victimhood…Actively use examples and narratives countering this dominance." Bennie Kara, (2021, p.59)
The 2014 National Curriculum for history sets out that children...
Wangari Maathai as a significant individual
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Back to basics: using artefacts in the classroom
Primary History article
While most teachers recognise the importance of artefacts in history education, knowing how to use them effectively can often prove more challenging. This article suggests ways to investigate historical objects and provides a framework to support children’s observations.
Why use artefacts?
Artefacts are simply any object used by people in...
Back to basics: using artefacts in the classroom
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What’s in a road? Local history at Early Years and Key Stage 1
Primary History article
One of the many amazing things about History is that it can be found in everything; even the smallest or most mundane objects can provide an insight into how life has changed or provide a greater understanding of a different period in time.
Late October last year as the light...
What’s in a road? Local history at Early Years and Key Stage 1
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Playing in the pandemic: Introducing the Play Observatory
Primary History article
What happens to children’s play in a global pandemic? In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was sweeping across the world, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from University College London and the University of Sheffield was beginning to plan a project to address this central question.
We began with history in...
Playing in the pandemic: Introducing the Play Observatory
