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Join and explore all you love about history
Information
HA membership starts from as little as £39.50 at concessionary rate, and £59.50 at individual rate. You can also get two extra months for free by quoting the code OL19 over the phone.Call us on 0300 100 0223 or join online today
Discover local branch talks and visits
With over 45 vibrant local branches across the...
Join and explore all you love about history
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The Historian 140: Out now
Journal news
It sometimes seems to those of us living in Scotland, Ireland and Wales that our histories have no importance to anyone beyond our borders and when Americans, and others around the world, say ‘England’ when they actually mean the ‘United Kingdom’, it is hard not to bristle. Contributors to this...
The Historian 140: Out now
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Young Historian Awards 2026 – take part (Secondary prizes)
History competition for students
The 2026 competition is now open. Entries close on 17 July 2026 (3 July for overseas entries).
Researching, writing and presenting ideas about a historical theme or period is one of the best parts about studying history. We want young school and college aged students to get the bug for...
Young Historian Awards 2026 – take part (Secondary prizes)
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Local study: Fulwell Windmill
Lesson Plan
Please note: This article pre-dates the current National Curriculum and some content and references may be outdated.
The lesson formed part of a local study of Fulwell and Fulwell Windmill in Sunderland. It could also be taught as part of the Victorian Britain Study Unit. The children had already looked at maps and...
Local study: Fulwell Windmill
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Detectives: what were schools like in the past?
Lesson Plan
In this lesson we asked what clues (objects and pictures) can tell us about the past. How were schools in the past different from ours? (Resources attached below.)
The objectives were:
To introduce the children to the idea of history as detective work.
To help the children to make comparisons...
Detectives: what were schools like in the past?
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Remembrance Day at KS1
Lesson Plan
Famous event in the past
This lesson introduces a famous event in the past through personal family history.
(These resources are attached below)
The photograph of Angela's grandfather, and the surrounding illustrations, provided a direct route into discussions about remembrance and war, then ranged wider still.
The children's literacy was...
Remembrance Day at KS1
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100 not out: the Nuneaton branch centenary
HA News
For the 2018–19 season, the Nuneaton Branch of the HA is celebrating its centenary. Founded in 1919, by 1921 there were 78 members. In 1924, members went on a ‘charabanc’ tour of Leicestershire churches, ending at Fenny Drayton, where they joined in the celebrations for the tercentenary of the birth...
100 not out: the Nuneaton branch centenary
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2019 Medlicott Medal for services to history
HA News
We are delighted to announce that the 2019 Medlicott Medal will be awarded to Professor Dame Janet L. Nelson – better known to all as Jinty. Jinty is a distinguished scholar of early medieval Europe and an influential figure to many historians. Her research has explored ideas of kingship and...
2019 Medlicott Medal for services to history
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Making the most of your Corporate Membership – adding extra logins
Guide for Corporate Members
So you’ve got corporate membership of the Historical Association – brilliant decision! With corporate membership you gain year-round assistance for:
Your entire teaching staff or history department – unlock a range of research, CPD and guidance for historyteachers at all levels within your school or department. School members can have...
Making the most of your Corporate Membership – adding extra logins
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Roman market (KS1 or KS2)
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.
Shopping in a Roman townPart of 'The way of life of people who lived in the more distant past in Britain'....
Roman market (KS1 or KS2)
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Historical Association Annual Conference - Terms & Conditions
Information
Please read these terms and conditions carefully before booking onto the Historical Association’s Annual Conference. You should understand that by booking a place at this Conference, you agree to adhere to these terms and conditions.
Please note that these terms and conditions are only applicable to the HA’s Conference and...
Historical Association Annual Conference - Terms & Conditions
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Teaching History 173: Out now
Journal news
Access Teaching History 173 here (free to HA Secondary Members)
Opening Doors
The theme for this edition of Teaching History draws part of its inspiration from calls for the school curriculum to give young people access to genuinely ‘powerful knowledge’: knowledge that will take them beyond the confines of their own...
Teaching History 173: Out now
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Peterloo: HA interview with Mike Leigh and Jacqueline Riding
27th November 2018
The film Peterloo has been reviewed as one of the cinematic achievements of 2018, dramatising the people and events that led to the infamous ‘Peterloo’ massacre in August 1819. Respected film-maker Mike Leigh created the film using historical records and sources from the period, as he and historical adviser Jacqueline...
Peterloo: HA interview with Mike Leigh and Jacqueline Riding
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Women’s Suffrage: the road to equality
Web resource launched to tie in with centenary of Act allowing women to stand as MPs
2018 has – rightly – seen a strong emphasis on the story of the suffragettes, of those courageous individuals who took to militant methods to get the vote for women. This is not their story; it is the often-overlooked story of the many thousands of women and men who fought...
Women’s Suffrage: the road to equality
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CPD events terms and conditions
Information
Please read these terms and conditions carefully before booking onto any of the Historical Association's [HA] CPD events. You should understand that by booking any of our CPD Events, you agree to adhere to these terms and conditions.
Please note that these terms and conditions are only applicable to the...
CPD events terms and conditions
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Move Me On 140: Getting students to generate their own enquiry questions
Teaching History feature
This Issue's Problem: Rafe Sadler has just started his second teaching placement and is worried about the very different ways of working and expectations of teachers in his new department.
In his first school, where history was taught within a humanities programme, the Key Stage 3 scheme of work had...
Move Me On 140: Getting students to generate their own enquiry questions
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Report on the Historical Association Tour of Cardiff and its environs
31st August 2018
Twenty-three people met in the comfortable Clayton Hotel in central Cardiff in June to attempt to assimilate two thousand years of Welsh history in a week. We were blessed with a heatwave, a bustling city environment, and a lot to see. We started on the eastern edge of South Wales...
Report on the Historical Association Tour of Cardiff and its environs
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'Picture This': A simple technique to teach complex concepts
Teaching History article
When Peter Clements was introduced to the creative strategy that he describes in this article, his immediate reaction was to dismiss it as childish and trivial. Yet, upon closer examination, he realised that ‘Picture This' offered far more than a lively way of increasing variety and engagement in his GCSE...
'Picture This': A simple technique to teach complex concepts
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Dickens...Hardy...Jarvis?! A novel take on the Industrial Revolution
Teaching History article
‘Empathy with edge' was the editorial description given eight years ago to the kind of historical fiction that Dave Martin and Beth Brooke first argued history students should be writing (TH 108). The winning entries from the annual ‘Write Your Own Historical Story Competition' to which their work gave rise...
Dickens...Hardy...Jarvis?! A novel take on the Industrial Revolution
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Counterfactual Reasoning: Comparing British and French History
Teaching History article
Year 8 use counterfactual reasoning to explore place and social upheaval in eighteenth-century France and Britain
Two linked motivations inspired Ellen Buxton's research study: she wanted pupils to make connections between British and French history and she wanted to explore the potential of counter-factual reasoning within a causation enquiry. It...
Counterfactual Reasoning: Comparing British and French History
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Membership terms and conditions
Information
The Historical Association [HA] is a registered charity incorporated by Royal Charter. We endeavour to make membership as accessible as possible to all, and this in turn enables us to continue to produce resources and campaign for quality history education at all levels, locally and nationally. We are grateful to...
Membership terms and conditions
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Key Stage 2-3 History Transition Project
Guide to KS2-KS3 Transition
Please note: these resources pre-date the 2014 National Curriculum. For more recent resources on Transition KS2-KS3 please see:
Transition KS2–KS3 (Primary History article, 2021)
Smooth Transitions: Key Stage 2 to 3 (Primary History article, 2020)
Transition Key Stage 2 and 3 (Primary History article, 2016)
Before 1066 & All That: Transition between...
Key Stage 2-3 History Transition Project
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A Guide to Oral History for Schools and Youth Groups
6th June 2018
The Oral History Society's Schools and Young People Group has developed A Guide to Oral History for Schools and Youth Groups. This important set of resources is designed to support teachers and anyone working with young people on oral history projects.
Oral history is a living history of everyone’s unique life experiences, and so is...
A Guide to Oral History for Schools and Youth Groups
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HA Conference Round-up 2018
25th May 2018
Alas it is gone (possibly pursued by a bear or two). If you weren’t in Stratford-upon-Avon on the weekend of 18-19 May then you missed a corker.
If you were there, please let us know what you thought by filling out our short HA conference evaluation form.
Day 1: Civil liberties, Cymbeline... and a lot...
HA Conference Round-up 2018
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Away from the Western Front launches two national projects
Creative Writing Competition and National Music Project
‘Away from the Western Front’ has launched two national projects and is offering everyone a chance to make a contribution to this First World War centenary commemoration.
A National Music project and a Creative Writing Competition are part of the Heritage Lottery funded First World War 'Away from the Western...
Away from the Western Front launches two national projects
