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One of my favourite history places: Chichester's Roman walls
Primary History feature
One of my favourite places to explore are the Roman walls that encircle the city of Chichester. The walls help to offer glimpses into the distant past and act as a constant reminder of the legacy left by the Roman Empire.
One of my favourite history places: Chichester's Roman walls
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Using some more unusual sources in the primary classroom
Primary History article
In this article Tim Lomas illustrates how it is valid and creative to go beyond some of the most popular sources used by primary history teachers. He looks at a number of historical enquiries and questions that might be considered as a theme and some sources that might be used....
Using some more unusual sources in the primary classroom
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One of my favourite history places: Durham Cathedral
Primary History feature
The best thing about Durham Cathedral is how it impresses on every scale and from every viewpoint. As you approach the city by train, it looms over the skyline hugging the River Wear and even dwarfing its imposing neighbour, Durham Castle. When you finally make the steep walk up towards cathedral green, the building towers above...
One of my favourite history places: Durham Cathedral
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Ideas for Assemblies: A slightly different view of remembrance
Primary History feature
The principle of this assembly is to show that positive events and developments can occur in the worst times and events of human history. To begin with, it is vital to ensure that the children (and staff!) know and understand that the First World War was not a good thing for...
Ideas for Assemblies: A slightly different view of remembrance
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Baghdad: what were its connections across the medieval world?
Primary History article
Baghdad of the Abbasid Caliphate was an architectural marvel, a round city protected by huge walls and surrounded by an intricate canal system. At the centre lay the caliph’s palace with a cupola of green, and the Great Mosque. The city was a series of concentric circles. The surrounding walls were over 240...
Baghdad: what were its connections across the medieval world?
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Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London (KS1) - more lessons
Lesson Plans
Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum.
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 subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
These...
Samuel Pepys and the Great Fire of London (KS1) - more lessons
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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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Back to basics: using artefacts in the classroom
Primary History article
While most teachers recognise the importance of artefacts in history education, knowing how to use them effectively can often prove more challenging. This article suggests ways to investigate historical objects and provides a framework to support children’s observations.
Why use artefacts?
Artefacts are simply any object used by people in...
Back to basics: using artefacts in the classroom
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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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Teaching ‘these islands’ from prehistoric times to 1066
Primary History article
The first aim in the National Curriculum indicates that children should:
Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider...
Teaching ‘these islands’ from prehistoric times to 1066
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William Brookes and the Olympic Games
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
History flows like a river, sometimes quiet and unobtrusive, sometimes a raging torrent with wide-ranging effects on the world around us. It is punctuated by momentous events and significant individuals, who impact on its direction and...
William Brookes and the Olympic Games
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The Charles Dickens Primary School Project
Historian article
For many years London South Bank University [LSBU] trainee teachers have been engaged in a wide range of mini history-led, cross-curricular projects in local primary schools, culminating in the students teaching lessons to groups of children. Some of these projects have been on different aspects of community history, including in-depth...
The Charles Dickens Primary School Project
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The Great Exhibition
Article
‘Of all the decades to be young in, a wise man would choose the 1850s’ concludes G.M. Young in his Portrait of An Age. His choice is understandable. Historians and contemporaries have long viewed the middle years of the century as a ‘plateau of peace and prosperity’, an ‘age of...
The Great Exhibition
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Arthur Wharton: the world’s first professional black footballer
Primary History article
Schools are now looking to extend their study of significant individuals away from many of the conventional ones. This article looks at a lesser known individual, Arthur Wharton, which could make a good choice for teachers wanting to tap into pupils’ interest. Arthur Wharton was the world’s first black professional...
Arthur Wharton: the world’s first professional black footballer
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Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times
Primary History article
Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated.
Classic fiction provides useful sources of information for investigating the lives, beliefs and values of people in the past. In this article Ann Cowling describes activities undertaken with student teachers which may also serve as models...
Using classic fiction to support the study of childhood in Victorian times
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How did a volcano affect life in the Bronze Age?
Primary History article
Recent discoveries have greatly altered our view of life in the Bronze Age. Must Farm, for example, was built in the Cambridgeshire Fens around 1000 BCE.
Sometime around 1159 BCE (no-one is quite sure when) Hekla, a volcano in Iceland (a country no-one yet knew existed) erupted, throwing millions of...
How did a volcano affect life in the Bronze Age?
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The History around us: Local history
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
History is an important aspect of the development of even very young children. They need to begin to develop the foundations of an understanding of the past and how it has developed and affected our present....
The History around us: Local history
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Podcast Series: The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
Multipage Article
In this set of podcasts Emeritus Professor Gerald Hawting of SOAS, University of London provides an introduction to the Umayyad (661-750) and Abbasid (750-1258) Caliphates.
Podcast Series: The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
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Teaching the Romans and stuck for inspiration?
Links and Visits
Theme of the monthA trip to Roman site can bring the subject alive like nothing else. English Heritage cares for a number of key Roman properties throughout the country and offers FREE ENTRY to all 400 of its sites for self-led learning groups. Roman teaching resources from English HeritageSite specific...
Teaching the Romans and stuck for inspiration?
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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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Beyond compare a study of Beatrix Potter and Benjamin Zephaniah
Primary History article
The Key Stage 1 National Curriculum encourages teachers to teach their pupils about ‘the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements.’ (DfE, 2014, p. 205). Some teachers have begun to move away from the old favourite subject of Florence Nightingale and as...
Beyond compare a study of Beatrix Potter and Benjamin Zephaniah
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The history teacher's craft: Doing local History through the eyes of W. G. Hoskins
Article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial comment: When teaching local history we all have an idea of what it is: both as a body of knowledge - information, dates, facts and substantive concepts - and as what that knowledge is based...
The history teacher's craft: Doing local History through the eyes of W. G. Hoskins
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A history of the world - 100 objects that tell a story
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial comment: A History of the World is the most creative, imaginative and dynamic development in primary History Education for thirty years. It ties in perfectly with and supports the government's re-vitalisation of primary education that...
A history of the world - 100 objects that tell a story
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Children in Victorian Britain: Down the Mine
Lesson Plan
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 subject leaders, join the Historical Association today
Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum....
Children in Victorian Britain: Down the Mine
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Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
Primary History article
The most recent HA survey suggests that crime and punishment is a popular theme as a Key Stage 2 development study covering the period after 1066.
It is easy to see why. Crime, criminals and punishment have a fascination for many and herein lies its appeal as well as a...
Teaching crime and punishment as a post-1066 theme
