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Dramatising Boudicca and the Celts
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and links are outdated.
The story of Boudicca lends itself equally well to both history and drama. As a key part of work on ‘The Romans', it is an example of how history and drama when used together can contribute to...
Dramatising Boudicca and the Celts
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Pull-out Posters: Primary History 66
Process map for writing a new Scheme of Work for history
Pull-out Posters: Primary History 66
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Making the children work for the information!
Primary History article
Your local museum is often a rich but sometimes overlooked resource. Images, documents and maps show a broad range of history but one that also relates to the children’s own local area. This allows children to see the connection with their own past, providing them with examples that they can...
Making the children work for the information!
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Viking travel
Lesson Plan (KS2)
Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.
How did the Vikings travel so far?
Using photos to investigate a Viking longboat. (See Gokstad ship for links to photographs.)
Key...
Viking travel
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Language and communication in the ancient world
Primary History article
At the beginning of the year, I really enjoyed accompanying a school trip to see the excellent Tutankhamun exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. One of the many treasures that was on display was a gilded wooden and ivory case which the young Egyptian king would have used to...
Language and communication in the ancient world
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Teaching and learning through personal, family and local history
E-CPD
N.B. This unit was produced before the 2014 curriculum and therefore while much of the advice is still useful, there may be some out of date references or links.
This unit is concerned with the way that primary age pupils can make use of their own personal, family and local history...
Teaching and learning through personal, family and local history
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The Vikings in Britain: a brief history
Reference guide for primary
Viking Age | In Britain: background | Short history | King Alfred | Later raids & rulers | Key concepts
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This resource is free for everyone
For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of...
The Vikings in Britain: a brief history
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Primary Committee biographies
Information
Find out more about the HA's committees here
Helen Crawford (Committee Chair)
Helen studied history at university and has worked in primary schools for twenty years as a class teacher, history subject leader, inclusion manager and senior leader. Most of her teaching career has been in London schools, but...
Primary Committee biographies
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Difficult and challenging reading: Genre, text and multi-modal sources
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
What impact did the Saxon invaders have? Our Year 4 class were puzzling over the picture of the Roman town forum at the height of the Roman Empire, one A3 picture per pair of pupils.
To...
Difficult and challenging reading: Genre, text and multi-modal sources
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Lessons with strong literacy links
Lessons
Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum.
All history lessons have literacy links. The following lessons on this website have particularly strong links with literacy and the Literacy Hour.
Urban spaces near you - cross-curricular work history, literacy, art & design, and science
The Aztec experience persuasion genre: producing...
Lessons with strong literacy links
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Britain and the wider world in Tudor times
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The first two articles in this series introduced three generic principles which might underpin planning a scheme of work in the KS2 History Curriculum. Article 1 (Jan 2001) drew on contemporary history to analyse and explain the principles. Article 2 (May 2001)...
Britain and the wider world in Tudor times
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Celebrating Success: Quality Mark
London Fields Primary School achieves Gold Award Quality Mark
London Fields is a larger than average primary school situated in Hackney, east London. The school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2011 and again in 2015. The school has a challenging context with free school meals, minority ethnic groups and English as an Additional Language all far in excess...
Celebrating Success: Quality Mark
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Young Quills 2025 – the winners
The Young Quills Awards for best historical fiction for young people
Each year, the Historical Association runs the Young Quills, a competition for published historical fiction for children and young adults (14+). The Young Quills books for each year must be published for the first time in English in the year preceding the competition – so 2024 for this year’s selection....
Young Quills 2025 – the winners
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One of my favourite history places: Hadrian's Wall
Article
Choosing Hadrian’s Wall as one of my favourite places is a bit of a cheat really as it is a 73-mile-long (80 Roman miles) wall punctuated with a whole range of 20 individual sites each worth a visit; from mile castles and forts to desolate sections with fabulous views or...
One of my favourite history places: Hadrian's Wall
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Making the most of a census
Primary History article
This article looks at how children can utilise and manipulate mathematical data to make sense of a historic past. The focus is on helping children see the numbers as a resource for understanding the experiences of those that lived in this place.
Aim: Understand historical concepts such as continuity and...
Making the most of a census
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The New Elizabethans
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on life in Britain at the 1953 coronation and how people at the time looked back to the reign of Elizabeth I.
This is one a set of Year 6 schemes of work arising from the 2005 KS2-KS3 History Transitions Project.
The New Elizabethans
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Living Museums and Victorian Britain
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on ways of portraying life in Victorian Britain.
While factual knowledge of aspects of Victorian life in Britain are a vital component of the unit, the main focus is on exploring the way living museums present the period,...
Living Museums and Victorian Britain
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How cruel were the Victorians?
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on Victorian crime and punishment.
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free or discounted CPD and membership of a thriving community of teachers and...
How cruel were the Victorians?
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Myths and War Evacuees
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on the evacuation of children during the second world war. While the factual knowledge of evacuation is an essential component of the unit, the main focus is on exploring the varied feelings and experiences of children sent to...
Myths and War Evacuees
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Vikings: who were they?
Lesson Plan (KS2)
Please note: this lesson was produced as part of the Nuffield Primary History project (1991-2009) and pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. It is part of a full sequence of lessons available here.
This resource is free to everyone. For access to hundreds of other high-quality resources by primary history experts along with free...
Vikings: who were they?
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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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Interpretation and poor Victorian Children
Year 6 Scheme of Work
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
This unit centres on the portrayal of poor, Victorian children. While factual knowledge about conditions in workhouses is an essential component of the unit, the main focus is on contrasting portrayals of one fictional Victorian child, Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist. The...
Interpretation and poor Victorian Children
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Whatever did the Greeks do for us?
Primary History article
The National Curriculum asks us to help our children to study ‘Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world’ [DfE 2013]. Lots of books explore the ancient Greeks [see, for example, Ancient Greece by Alf Wilkinson, Collins Primary Histories, published in 2019]. It is a familiar topic....
Whatever did the Greeks do for us?
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Archimedes and the Syracusan War
Lesson Plan
Cross-curricular History and Science in the Literacy Hour
Archimedes and how his weapons worked
Archimedes is an excellent subject. Indeed, Archimedes offers an excellent cross-curricular lesson opportunity, as he covers science, mathematics and a range of other areas, including cunning plans to defeat enemy armies and navies.
The previous week...
Archimedes and the Syracusan War
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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?
