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Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
Historian article
When the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in Mexico during the early sixteenth century there were many repercussions for the indigenous people. Their conversion to Christianity and the sacking of their temples are two of the most well known examples. However, it is often forgotten that the Aztecs had only a pictorial...
Culture Shock: The Arrival of the Conquistadores in Aztec Mexico
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Using the back cover image: Mummified cat
Primary History feature
For hundreds of years, travellers to Egypt have marvelled at the amazing monuments evident throughout the country. The treasures of Ancient Egypt became more fascinating after the discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1799, which led to the deciphering of the hieroglyphic language. Many Victorian explorers returned to their European...
Using the back cover image: Mummified cat
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Anglo-Saxon Women
Primary History Article
The Anglo-Saxon era is a diverse period that stretches across just over 650 years. Those we call Anglo-Saxons were not homogenous nor were their experiences. In AD 410 the Roman legions leave and the first Anglo-Saxon raiders appear. These pagan warrior bands would come to terrorise Romano-British settlements until, inevitably,...
Anglo-Saxon Women
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Ancient Greece: Birthplace of the Olympics - Teacher Briefing
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
Editorial note: Below is a one-page outline of a wonderful briefing replete with visual and textual sources and teaching ideas from The Cambridge Schools Classics Project (CSC P). The outline below consists of the full introduction...
Ancient Greece: Birthplace of the Olympics - Teacher Briefing
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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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Who's afraid of the Big Bad Bronze Age?
Primary History article
It’s September 1992 and in Dover archaeologists from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust are working alongside construction workers when six metres below ground they find some waterlogged planks. Thankfully, an expert in maritime archaeology is on site and he recognises that this could be a lot more than abandoned timber. Uncovering...
Who's afraid of the Big Bad Bronze Age?
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Planning for 'Changes within Living Memory'
Primary History article
While changes to the Key Stage 1 subject content are not as extensive as Key Stage 2 it is necessary to be aware of the changing emphasis within the different themes. ‘Changes within Living Memory' has a couple of key issues to be aware of. First, ‘living memory' refers to...
Planning for 'Changes within Living Memory'
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Role play and the past
Primary History article
The role-play area is often the most popular feature of a foundation stage classroom. For children, it's a source of great fun; for Early Years teachers, it is a wonderful way to develop pupils' language, communication and social development skills. An effective role-play area can also be instrumental in helping...
Role play and the past
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Victorian child labour: slate mining
Lesson Plan
Please note: this free resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources see:
Victorians (Primary History article, 2014)
Scheme of work: Sarah Forbes Bonetta
Scheme of work: Brunel
Download Resources 1 and 2 as well as the teachers' notes.
Resources 1 gives you the paragraphs for the children to cut...
Victorian child labour: slate mining
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Celtic Britain: the land the Romans conquered
Lesson Plan
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.
Literacy was addressed throughout these lessons: introducing the text and the materials about the island, then working on the production...
Celtic Britain: the land the Romans conquered
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Case Study: Prehistory in the primary curriculum: A stonehenge to remember
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
An article in the Sunday Times newspaper on 7 December reported that Britain is to stop making nominations to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) for heritage sites to be granted World Heritage...
Case Study: Prehistory in the primary curriculum: A stonehenge to remember
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The Shang: What can we tell about an ancient civilisation from one tomb?
Primary History article
The Shang Dynasty of China, based around the Yellow River area, is regarded as the first Chinese dynasty that we have written evidence for. It was established in around 1760 BC when Tang set up his capital in the city of Bo. Over the next 600 or 700 years the Shang Empire grew and shrank,...
The Shang: What can we tell about an ancient civilisation from one tomb?
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The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
Primary History article
Before the Romans arrived the islands which now make up Britain were populated with a variety of relatively large and small fortified or defended settlements. The people living here were usually part of tribes or clans and they probably raided each other's territory for cattle and other animals. The majority of people farmed in some way,...
The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
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Podcast Series: The Vikings
Podcasted history
An HA Podcasted History of the Vikings featuring Professor Rosamond McKitterick, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge.
Podcast Series: The Vikings
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Ancient Greeks: The Olympics' War Games - Teaching through Drama
Primary History article
Please note: this article pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum and some content may be outdated.
When I was a boy the Greek Olympics was one of the perennials of the primary history curriculum, alongside the Battle of Hastings and the execution of Charles I.
I have memories of an old text...
Ancient Greeks: The Olympics' War Games - Teaching through Drama
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Case Study: World War II evacuation project
Primary History article
Editorial note: The WOW factor. When we first received and read the World War II Evacuation Project case study we simply went WOW! It was genuinely mind-blowing. Below we publish the main sections of the report. They bring to life an invaluable, ground-breaking case-study of national significance.
The case-study involved...
Case Study: World War II evacuation project
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Hollywood vs. Homer
Primary History article
You don't need a degree in film studies or Classics to enjoy the Hollywood blockbuster: Troy. Or to enjoy Brad Pitt, for that matter! But the question my teacher friend asked me, after two hours and forty minutes of being with Brad in a warm, dark place, was a great...
Hollywood vs. Homer
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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
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Ancient Sumer
Primary History article
For many teachers and children alike, Ancient Sumer will be completely new. Although Sumer has always been an option for teaching about Early Civilisations, the fame of Ancient Egypt, as well as being a tried-and-tested topic, has meant that Sumer has perhaps been overlooked. There is little danger of failing...
Ancient Sumer
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Using the back cover image: Sandbach Crosses - an Anglo-Saxon market cross
Primary History feature
This image is a reconstruction, or interpretation, by Peter Dunn, an artist, of what Sandbach Crosses might have looked like in the ninth century. They are one of the few remaining Anglo-Saxon stone crosses in the country. They stand in the market place in Sandbach, Cheshire. You can find a...
Using the back cover image: Sandbach Crosses - an Anglo-Saxon market cross
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Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
Primary History Article
Anglo-Saxons have been a part of the primary national curriculum from the onset so they may not be as unfamiliar to teachers as some themes. Many teachers also report that pupils enjoy studying them so there is clearly much in their favour.
That does not mean, however, that all is...
Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
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The Tomb of Tutankhamun
Lesson Plan
How was Tutankhamun's tomb discovered?
Using a photograph as a source of historical information.
(These resources are attached below)
The lesson aims were for children to:
understand the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb
develop their skills in scanning, observing and focusing, and questioning
use sources to find out...
The Tomb of Tutankhamun
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Scheme of Work: The Blitz: all we need to know about World War II?
Primary Scheme of Work, Key Stage 2 History (resourced)
This unit provides children with the opportunity to look at the Second World War as an aspect of British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066.
This 8-part enquiry is useable in full or to use sections of as stand alone shorter enquiries. Pupils will be encouraged to examine different...
Scheme of Work: The Blitz: all we need to know about World War II?
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Dissolution of the Monasteries: Haughmond Abbey
Lesson Plan
Please note: this resource pre-dates the 2014 National Curriculum.
The objectives of this lesson were for the children to:
Understand that spoken language and word usage may change over a period of time;
Understand that to be able to use an historical document as a source of evidence it is...
Dissolution of the Monasteries: Haughmond Abbey
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Stone Age to Iron Age - overview and depth
Primary History article
Stone Age to Iron Age covers around 10,000 years, between the last Ice Age and the coming of the Romans. Such a long period is difficult for children to imagine, but putting the children into a living time-line across the classroom might help. In one sense not a lot happens...
Stone Age to Iron Age - overview and depth
