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Chronology & Topics at Key Stage 2
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Nearly Complete History Of Almost Everything outlines the chronology of various aspects of our lives, and gives a flavour of the enormity at first glanceof ‘teaching chronology'. Topics, which are not tied to a particular...
Chronology & Topics at Key Stage 2
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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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Teaching possibilities: From Plato to Nato
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The Olympics historical dimension opens up a plethora of possibilities for history, projects and integrated approaches that draw upon the themes and approaches that underpin the primary school curriculum. Our top ten are:
1. Home and...
Teaching possibilities: From Plato to Nato
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In My View, Whatever happened to...?
Article
Older readers of the journal may well remember a classic film, Whatever happened to Baby Jane ? This article asks, and attempts to answer, two parallel questions: "Whatever happened to breadth and balance?" and "Whatever happened to history’s place in the primary curriculum?". The two questions (and their answers) are...
In My View, Whatever happened to...?
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Saltaire: Planning for an effective learning experience on a living site
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In the autumn of 2009 I agreed to contribute to a project looking at how Saltaire village, Bradford could be developed as an educational site. This is a very popular site visited by many local schools,...
Saltaire: Planning for an effective learning experience on a living site
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Is primary history thriving?
Article
The 2022 Historical Association survey of primary schools drew a good response. The results have been evaluated. The full report has been published on the website but this article summarises the main findings and suggested strategies to take the subject further. Its findings help direct the resources of the HA....
Is primary history thriving?
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Progression in primary history
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
In this guide Tim Lomas looks at how we can plan for progression in primary history, different measures we can use to check on it, and how we can make it work in practice. It also covers some key ‘dos and don’ts’ and offers some exemplar case studies, including an...
Progression in primary history
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Life in lockdown
Primary History article
In this article on the impact of the Coronavirus, Matthew Flynn from Ryders Hayes in Walsall, a History Quality Mark school, has considered how history subject leaders can maintain the status of the subject when faced with remote learning.
Education has undergone many changes and uncertainty over the decades, but...
Life in lockdown
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Writing a History Policy
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
In this piece Bev explains why it’s important for history subject leaders to develop a whole school policy for history, key pieces of information you may want to include, and the need to review the policy on a periodic basis. It also includes two exemplars policies for you to review...
Writing a History Policy
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Leading History in an Independent School
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
In this piece Stuart explores some of the key considerations when leading history in an independent school, including the potential benefits and drawbacks of forging links with other schools, how you can use history to enrich the curriculum in the school, improving the level of CPD in your school, and...
Leading History in an Independent School
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Every picture tells a story: Sage comme une image
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
A crucial issue in using history as a vehicle for learning is the professional development of colleagues with whom you are working. This is an activity I did with students on a PGCE...
Every picture tells a story: Sage comme une image
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Things to remember when planning history - one subject leader's list
Article
This section uses a practical example from one school where the subject leader produced general guidelines to schools and planning and teaching history.
Things to remember when planning history - one subject leader's list
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Transition Key Stage 2 and 3
Primary History article
It can sometimes seem that the primary and secondary phases of education live in isolation from each other. After all, most primary teachers are generalists (despite sometimes having specialist experience of a particular curriculum area), having to turn their hands to all subjects on the curriculum whatever they feel about...
Transition Key Stage 2 and 3
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Think Bubble 48: Lighting fires
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
I have a very old photo in my ‘archive' taken in the 1970s of a much-younger me dressed in, what can only be described as, a vague suggestion of 18th Century costume - thread-bare jacket, a...
Think Bubble 48: Lighting fires
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History through Drama, A Teachers' Guide - Revisited
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
It is now some seventeen years since the publication of our original pamphlet by the Historical Association [HA] as part of the Teaching of History Series (Wilson and Woodhouse, 1990). This article offers a personal review...
History through Drama, A Teachers' Guide - Revisited
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Drama - Choosing an approach
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
There is a range of drama strategies that we use all the time. The important point is to select a strategy with which you feel confident. For example, the collective making of a map by the...
Drama - Choosing an approach
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Using cemeteries as a local history resource
Primary History article
Why visit a cemetery as part of the history curriculum? Local studies now feature prominently in the primary history curriculum for both key stages. This development challenges teachers to find easilyaccessible, inexpensive and relevant resources on their doorstep. A rich resource which has traditionally been overlooked is the local churchyard...
Using cemeteries as a local history resource
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Case Study: Gifted Pupils design new children's museum galleries
Primary History case study
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
In this article I will describe a G&T museum-based project which we have just trialled with three primary schools in the Ashton Bedminster primary school cluster in Bristol. It was a joint initiative between Bristol’s...
Case Study: Gifted Pupils design new children's museum galleries
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Working with other subject leaders
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
History has often been described as an umbrella subject. This is because the nature of history means that we must learn something about the past and this something will encapsulate learning from other subject areas. However, while the history taught in your school can be enriched by other subject areas,...
Working with other subject leaders
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Archaeology - An approach to teaching history at Key Stage 2. Curriculum history
Article
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 1999 to give local children access to the...
Archaeology - An approach to teaching history at Key Stage 2. Curriculum history
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‘We built a museum’: What does your school resource room look like?
Primary History article
New Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich had teachers and subject leaders tearing their hair out. Despite their best endeavours to keep it tidy, by the end of each half-term it always ended up in a mess. Those busy teachers that never put things back the way they found...
‘We built a museum’: What does your school resource room look like?
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Drama and role play
Primary History article
Drama and Role Play are powerful teaching approaches for language development. The themed edition of Primary History 48, Spring 2008 History, Drama and the Classroom provides a comprehensive introduction and detailed guidance to language development through roleplay and drama. PH 48 contains numerous case-studies illuminating a full range of approaches.
Case-Study...
Drama and role play
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EYFS: What does good curriculum provision look like?
HA Primary Subject Leader Area
In this joint piece, Helen and Rob explore the EYFS Development Matters framework and its relevance to developing children’s understanding of the past. Helen suggests some key resources and approaches which work well in EYFS as well as some key questions to frame discussions with early years staff. Rob shares...
EYFS: What does good curriculum provision look like?
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Effective Primary History Teaching, Challenges and Opportunities
Primary History article
“It’s like they’ve gone up a year!” This was the unprompted observation of a teaching assistant at Buckden Primary School last summer, supporting Giles Fullard, a secondary history teacher from Hinchingbrooke School, near Huntingdon leading a lesson with a year 6 class on “Was Boudicca Britain’s first hero?” The scheme...
Effective Primary History Teaching, Challenges and Opportunities
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Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What has a small Shropshire town got to do with the modern Olympic Games? Why is a country doctor a key figure in the development of the modern games? Why is one of the 2012 mascots...
Shropshire's Secret Olympic History
