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English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
[THINK BUBBLE, has burst, r.i.p... Diogenes, a curmudgeonly Ancient Greek cynic, has taken its place. The original Grumpy Old Man Diogenes typically looks back to a mythical golden age]
Introduction
Unfortunately I'm old enough to remember a time when primary school...
English Heritage's Heritage Explorer
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Britain, Europe and the World?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
With the current debate on what content we should teach, and especially with the focus on pupils understanding the history of Britain before they leave school, it is perhaps pertinent to ask how this should link...
Britain, Europe and the World?
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What makes good local history?
Primary History article
Everywhere has a past and learning how to capitalise on that for primary history can be both rewarding and challenging. Not only are aspects of the local area's history a requirement in their own right at both key stages, but these aspects can also help to tell the national story,...
What makes good local history?
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'Doing Local History' through maps and drama
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.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.
'Doing Local History' through maps and drama
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Pupils as apprentice historians (3)
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Spring 2008 issue of this magazine, Visual Literacy, highlighted the excellent practice in using visual historical sources that exists in many primary schoolsWe should strive to preserve and extend this critical use of visuals, whatever...
Pupils as apprentice historians (3)
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Eweka's story: Benin and Big Picture History
Article
The prospect of teaching Benin as a non-European Study within the time frame 900-1300 AD is challenging! Traditional oral evidence suggests that the critical event during this period in Benin's past was a transition from the Ogiso to the Eweka Dynasty, named after its first Oba, which resulted in it...
Eweka's story: Benin and Big Picture History
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Developing pupils' chronological understanding
Article
In its latest triennial history survey report, History for all, Ofsted concluded that, ‘history teaching was good or better in most primary schools' and, ‘most pupils reached the end of Key Stage 2 with detailed knowledge derived from well-taught studies of individual topics'. The report went on to note, though,...
Developing pupils' chronological understanding
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Investigating the ancient Olympic games: A Case Study
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In a 10-week unit on Ancient Greece, we gave the fourth lesson over to the ancient Olympic Games. The class was a delight: 32 enthusiastic Year 6 children in an urban county primary school.
We knew...
Investigating the ancient Olympic games: A Case Study
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Some teaching and learning strategies
Article
The history of the community is an important aspect of history in both key stages but is rarely something that can just be taken off the shelf. Wherever possible, local history should be used to link different periods of history. The specific Key Stage 2 unit should be an investigation...
Some teaching and learning strategies
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Geosong: a transition project
Primary History article
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...
Geosong: a transition project
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How do we ensure really good local history in primary schools?
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
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...
How do we ensure really good local history in primary schools?
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Beyond the classroom walls: museums and primary history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Apart from the difficulty of getting hold of a hard copy of the new National Curriculum framework, museum educators have little to worry about in the results of the curriculum review. The framework reveals few changes that will affect what museums have...
Beyond the classroom walls: museums and primary history
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How We Used to Sleep
School Resources
Want to take a fresh look at medicine through time with your students?
If so, you might be interested in teaching them about sleep’s history in the Renaissance. By focusing on sleep – something that we all do and have an opinion on – students can be introduced to changing...
How We Used to Sleep
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Understanding Chronology at Key Stage 2
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Introduction - Issues and Concerns
Was I wise to accept the invitation to write this piece? There has been little research to shed light on the question [of what understanding of chronology can we expect of...
Understanding Chronology at Key Stage 2
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Progression and coherence in history
Primary 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...
Progression and coherence in history
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Unpicking the learning potential in creative approaches to studying World War II
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
‘The biggest issue for school history is its limited place in the curriculum.' (Ofsted, 2007)
This central concern of Ofsted's 2007 report, History in the balance, could equally apply to the teaching of drama in primary schools....
Unpicking the learning potential in creative approaches to studying World War II
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From Champion to Hero: Engaging Pupils in a study of significant Olympians
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Allocated the task of researching and presenting ideas for teaching about significant Olympians, I thought: ‘Brilliant, this is the easy one'. How wrong can one be! I expected to be able to access a plethora of...
From Champion to Hero: Engaging Pupils in a study of significant Olympians
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Local railway history: using visual resources
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Before the 1960s British Rail's spider-web network of railway lines reached every town and thousands of villages. Where you live would have been within a thirty minute journey from a station; scroll down to look at...
Local railway history: using visual resources
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Planning for history and environmental education
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
As a headteacher, I want my teachers to plan high quality learning experiences for children. By ensuring that lessons are vibrant and exciting, and that stimulate that ‘inbuilt curiosity', we make sure that children encounter...
Planning for history and environmental education
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Archaeology - An approach to teaching history at Key Stage 2. Curriculum history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
Alongside modern University buildings, at Beckett Park, (part of Leeds Metropolitan University), there is evidence of a monastic grange, a seventeenth century farmhouse, and an eighteenth century mansion which was extended in Victorian Times. The Beckett Park Archaeology Project was established in...
Archaeology - An approach to teaching history at Key Stage 2. Curriculum history
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Working with Boudicca texts - contemporary, juvenile and scholarly
Teaching History article
Please note: this article was written before the the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may now be outdated.
Robert Guyver describes a model for teaching Boudicca’s rebellion to pupils aged 7 to 13. Drawing on the tradition of critical source evaluation, he nonetheless shuns aspects of that tradition in favour of...
Working with Boudicca texts - contemporary, juvenile and scholarly
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Cross Curricular Project on a famous person
Primary History case study
Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated.
If you are considering studying someone other than Florence Nightingale you have two basic options. You can either choose a local character who would be more relevant to the children, or you could study someone who...
Cross Curricular Project on a famous person
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How could an ITaP help you teach more history?
Primary History article
Sharing our classrooms with a student teacher has changed over recent years, as the DfE has become increasingly interested in the ITT curriculum seamlessly integrating into school placement experiences. Part of this relates to ITaPs. This article outlines an ITaP designed by the University of Reading. Not only does it...
How could an ITaP help you teach more history?
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Music in the History Curriculum
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references are outdated.
In a primary school in Devon, there is a teacher who sings to his class every day: traditional songs; love songs; lyrical ballads; sea shanties; tales of mystery and suspense; songs of ritual and ceremony, hunting songs,...
Music in the History Curriculum
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The Brontë sisters: teaching local history through a focus on one remarkable family
Primary History article
Lorna Spencer’s focus on the Brontë sisters as a significant local family provides an insight into both their lives and their challenges, and how far these can be compared with those of different classes of people in the locality. Their experiences can also be related to wider issues, such as...
The Brontë sisters: teaching local history through a focus on one remarkable family
