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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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Co-ordinators' concerns: Visits and Ofsted
Primary History article
Since Ofsted published its 2012 new guidance for the inspection of schools, it seems that aspects such as visits will not be a high priority. What advice can I give to the senior management team in response to its pressure to avoid these kind of frills?
Ofsted will judge the...
Co-ordinators' concerns: Visits and Ofsted
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Using sites and the environment
Primary History article
Focus and Purpose
A Year 5 class of 27 children were to visit the North Gallery at Petworth House in Sussex, where the 3rd Earl of Egremont kept his collection of sculptures and pictures. If the children were to learn I needed to give them a focus and a purpose....
Using sites and the environment
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Case Study: Working with gifted and talented children at an Iron Age hill fort in north Somerset
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
The phone call was over - manna from heaven. The opportunity to work with a ‘real' archaeologist on a ‘real' Iron Age site seemed far too good to be true. The cluster of eight South...
Case Study: Working with gifted and talented children at an Iron Age hill fort in north Somerset
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Children's thinking in archaeology
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Young children enjoy prehistory Tactile, Physical and Enactive engagement with archaeological remains stimulates, excites and promotes children's logical, imaginative, creative and deductive thinking. Through archaeology there are infinite opportunities for ‘reasonable guesses' about sources and...
Children's thinking in archaeology
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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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Education for geographical understanding
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Geography is one of humanity's big ideas. It literally means something like ‘writing the world'. Thus, traditionally, geography is associated with rich descriptions of places. For many years geographers were almost synonymous with explorers, bringing back...
Education for geographical understanding
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Archaeology and the Early Years: The Noah's Ark Experience
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links may be outdated.
The authors of this article first worked together on a number of small scale excavations while Bev was still a primary school teacher in the Bradford area. When Bev changed roles to train...
Archaeology and the Early Years: The Noah's Ark Experience
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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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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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A Load of Rubbish: Using Victorian throwaways in the classroom
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
There are many effective ways of using artefacts and resources for the Victorians, but how many teachers have considered using the rubbish that the Victorians literally threw away? This material can cost nothing or be...
A Load of Rubbish: Using Victorian throwaways in the classroom
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Raising the achievement of higher-attaining pupils: some challenging activities on Ancient Greece
Primary History Article
Karin Doull offers advice on raising the achievements of higher attaining pupils.
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and reference the old QCA, but offers some useful activities on Ancient Greece.
Raising the achievement of higher-attaining pupils: some challenging activities on Ancient Greece
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Ideas for Assemblies: Anniversaries
Article
For this issue I have selected an eclectic range of anniversaries. Some are to do with travel and exploration, showing the human spirit of endeavour and wanting to find out more, like Christopher Columbus' epic voyage across the Atlantic, even if, as we now know, the Vikings went before him...
Ideas for Assemblies: Anniversaries
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Ideas for Assemblies - Remembrance
Article
A debt of honour...
During the months of September to November 2015, assemblies in my school will focus on remembrance relating to the First World War culminating in a special Armistice Day assembly. In conjunction with this focus a possible approach could be to introduce the children to the growth...
Ideas for Assemblies - Remembrance
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Recorded webinar: Ask the Primary Committee – Learning from Lockdown
Webinar
The first in a series of new termly webinars, this session offered a discussion with Sue Temple and Chris Trevor from our primary committee about what we can learn from lockdown in terms of History teaching, and ideas about what we could/should do now to help our children going forward.
Recorded webinar: Ask the Primary Committee – Learning from Lockdown
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Film: Making the most of your primary membership
Article
Are you new to HA primary membership and not sure where to start? Want a taster of the benefits before you join? Or have you been a member for a while and want to make sure that you're using your membership to its full potential? In this recorded webinar we guide you through some essential benefits - from...
Film: Making the most of your primary membership
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Ideas for Assemblies: Battle of the Somme
Article
Commemorating the Battle of the Somme through an assembly is not an easy task and one which needs careful thought and preparation. This battle officially started on 1 July 1916, after a week-long artillery bombardment, though both British and French commanders had prepared for the offensive for several months. To highlight...
Ideas for Assemblies: Battle of the Somme
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Ideas for Assemblies: The Olympics
Article
A series of whole-school or class assemblies planned for the weeks leading up to the Olympic Games in 2016 provides an excellent opportunity to introduce or reinforce pupils’ understanding of significance. Over the weeks the pupils will be introduced to inspirational stories taken from previous games and through this be...
Ideas for Assemblies: The Olympics
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Learning Outside the Classroom
Article
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...
Learning Outside the Classroom
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So was everyone an ancient Egyptian?
Developing an understanding of the world in ancient times
I will be honest – no child has actually asked me if the world was ever full of Ancient Egyptians! Having said that, by focusing on one part of the world, children are left with either this impression or the idea that nothing was happening elsewhere in the world. Clearly,...
So was everyone an ancient Egyptian?
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The world on the wall: exploring diversity on Hadrian's Wall
Article
Built in AD 122 by the order of the Emperor Hadrian, the 73 mile (80 Roman miles) long frontier goes from Bownesson-Solway in Cumbria to Wallsend on the River Tyne. Since 1987, the area has been inscribed as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site....
The world on the wall: exploring diversity on Hadrian's Wall
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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'...
Museums, schools and creativity: How learning can be enhanced
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Creativity in teaching and learning at the Geffrye Museum
Article
Learning and education has always been an essential and central part of the Geffrye museum's purpose. Twice winners of the highly prestigious Sandford Award for Heritage Education, most recently in 2012, our professional learning team works with a broad range of audiences to develop and deliver a wide variety of...
Creativity in teaching and learning at the Geffrye Museum
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Can you bring the dead back to life...?
Article
Victoria Rogers highlights the importance of encouraging school visits to heritage sites and museums.
Can you bring the dead back to life...?
