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Case Study: The history club
Primary History article
Editorial note: this is an introductory article on the History Club concept: Primary History 64, summer 2013, on History and the new 2014+ National Curriculum for History will provide a vade mecum for schools to develop their own History Clubs.
.... sometimes we use the past and today, modern times,...
Case Study: The history club
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Case Study 4: Harry met Francis - The field of the cloth of gold, 1521 and inspirational and authentic context for teaching aspects of history, dance, drama, design and technology through french
Article
The Field of the Cloth of Gold is traditionally regarded as the province of A-level history study. However, this wonderful story (and the insights it can offer into: the lives of the rich and poor, the nature of the kings of both England and France, the ways in which alliances...
Case Study 4: Harry met Francis - The field of the cloth of gold, 1521 and inspirational and authentic context for teaching aspects of history, dance, drama, design and technology through french
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The Great Fire of London and the National Curriculum
Primary History article including Scheme of Work for Key Stage 1 (unresourced)
The Great Fire of London is a favourite National Curriculum teaching topic. This paper draws on the latest resources and teaching ideas to suggest how you can meet both the NC history requirements and the wider ones of the National Curriculum, particularly in integrated programmes that include teaching about the Great...
The Great Fire of London and the National Curriculum
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Scheme of Work: The Georgians
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (unresourced)
This unit focuses on the Georgian period across the mid to late 18th century. It is during this period that Britain (rather than England) begins to consolidate the gains made by Tudor and Stuart explorers and traders. The seeds of the British Empire of the Victorian period are planted at this...
Scheme of Work: The Georgians
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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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Teaching the First World War in the primary school
Article
The current commemorations of the First World War have opened the door to some real opportunities for those teaching primary history – perhaps even considering taking children to the battlefields. Although this is customarily a secondary-school experience, this article outlines the opportunities for primary-age children. The suggestions here are based...
Teaching the First World War in the primary school
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Epistemic insights: bringing subject disciplines together
Primary History article
"Teaching epistemic insight goes hand in hand with teaching a broad and balanced curriculum. It includes building students’ understanding of the ways that different types of disciplinary knowledge can help us to address questions that bridge subjects and disciplines." (Teaching and Learning about Epistemic Insight brochure, https://crc.up.pt/wp-content/uploads/sites/101/2017/09/epistemic-insight-brochure.pdf)
The Epistemic Insight Project...
Epistemic insights: bringing subject disciplines together
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A Victorian Christmas
A Victorian Xmas
The Historical Association In Alliance With Association for Language Learning. Cross-Curricular Unit: Year 5/6 French and History. A Victorian Christmas.
A Victorian Christmas
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The Battle of Britain
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
David Field gives a descriptive account of a History Club's project on the Battle of Britain.
The Battle of Britain
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Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
Primary History article
From a visit to a local museum or heritage site, to using bushcraft skills to give pupils first-hand experience of what it might have been like to live in ancient times, teaching prehistory outside the classroom can really give this area of the curriculum the wow factor. The inclusion of...
Teaching pre-history outside the classroom
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Ideas for Assemblies: Refugee stories
Primary History feature
Please note: this piece was written before Sir Mo Farah’s 2022 disclosure that he was trafficked to the UK as a child, so some of its content is no longer accurate.
An assembly could focus on the achievements of their lives, experiences as child refugees and migrants, and how they overcame...
Ideas for Assemblies: Refugee stories
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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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Good practice in primary history: the Quality Mark scheme
Primary History article
This article aims to cover two separate but related aspects. Firstly, using the evidence of Quality Mark visits to primary schools, Bev Forrest identifies and explains some of the best practice observed on these visits. Secondly, Mel Jones focuses on one specific case study illustrating the type of primary history...
Good practice in primary history: the Quality Mark scheme
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One of my favourite history places: Fulham Palace
Primary History feature
In the south-west corner of London, nestled up against the Thames, lies Fulham Palace. This is a palace that was not for kings and queens but bishops, the princes of the church. This was the summer palace for the bishops of London which they retreated to when the heat and stench of the...
One of my favourite history places: Fulham Palace
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Using the back cover image: Exploring the collections of Victorian naturalists
Primary History feature
Many museums around the country house natural history collections that offer children the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of species from around the world. Using the collections of Victorian explorers and naturalists offers children a historical perspective with a cross-curricular approach which has a great appeal. Yet for...
Using the back cover image: Exploring the collections of Victorian naturalists
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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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Local history and a sense of identity
Article
The history co-ordinator often finds some real challenges as well as opportunities in addressing local history in primary schools. The advantages are well rehearsed – making history relevant to the lives of the children and giving them an improved sense of identity and place through engagement with the ‘real thing’....
Local history and a sense of identity
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The Stone Age conundrum
Making use of a local site to develop historical knowledge
History – the very word makes the primary teacher in me feel excited. There are simply so many variables, so many dark nooks and crannies of history to explore and so many different angles through which to draw in a class of eager young minds. Thanks to a wellexecuted history...
The Stone Age conundrum
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Teaching history and geography together in a meaningful way
WHEN 2 + 2 = 5!
This article explores some of the ways history and geography can be taught side by side, so that the sum of the parts adds up to more than the original. How can we teach history with geography and vice versa, to the benefit of both, while fulfilling the aims of...
Teaching history and geography together in a meaningful way
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Our Iron Age challenge
Developing historical understanding through building an iron age house
The University of Chichester’s three-year BA (Hons) Degree for Primary Education and Teaching involves learning how to provide rigorous and creative educational opportunities for children. The course involves one creativity module each year. The final one involves the development of skills and confidence in creating problem-solving.
Four of us were...
Our Iron Age challenge
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What your local Archive Service can offer to schools
Primary History article
Imagine a place where your pupils become detectives working on mysteries from the past such as the tale of Thomas Sargeant, a 15-year-old factory worker who died in a chemical works in 1898. Your local archive is bursting with stories about real people like this which can give children an...
What your local Archive Service can offer to schools
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TREE-mendous history!
Primary History article
Since the nineteenth century there has been a rich heritage of outdoor learning pedagogy in Europe, and today in Scandinavia the open air culture (frulitsliv) permeates Early Years education. In 1993 Bridgewater College nursery nurses returned from a visit to Denmark enthused by the outdoor educational settings and started their own ‘Forest School'. From 1995 the college...
TREE-mendous history!
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Using 'Development Matters' in the Foundation stage
Primary History article
Using ‘Development Matters' to plan learning for history in the Foundation stage
You won't find the term history in the Early Years curriculum framework at all. That being so, it can be difficult to know how best to support our Nursery and Reception colleagues when developing historical understanding within the...
Using 'Development Matters' in the Foundation stage
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From Home to the Front: World War I
Primary History article
Events which encapsulate family, community, national and global history provide rich opportunities for engaging children. Some of these draw on positive memories associated with past events: the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, how people responded to the first flight to the moon, the Millennium celebrations. Yet it is perhaps gruelling...
From Home to the Front: World War I
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Early Islamic civilisation
Primary History article
The Primary National Curriculum pinpoints Early Islamic Civilisation as Baghdad c. AD 900 - yet it was so much more. For approximately a thousand years after AD 700 there was an extraordinary amount of activity that radiated out from Baghdad and along a glittering crescent through North Africa and into...
Early Islamic civilisation
