Keystage history - Imaginative History Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools
About Keystage History
Keystage history is the home of best practice in primary and secondary history teaching and learning. You can totally trust the authoritative, cutting edge, expert advice and you will be inspired by all the creative planning and teaching ideas. Subscribers love the wide range of fully resourced history lessons, all judged outstanding by a vastly experienced LA history adviser who has observed over 2,000 primary and secondary lessons and has carried out 60 national inspections for OFSTED. Every aspect of leading history 5-19 is covered in detail, from assessment and progression through to curriculum planning, raising standards and inspiring colleagues. This site is a must for any forward-looking subject leader.
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Linking your early civilizations at KS2
There is a real and present danger in KS2 of failing to make links between topics. If we are not careful, topics become silos, seen as separate entities. Much better to make as many links as possible to enable pupils...moreWizards and scientists:changing views of Stonehenge. History as interpretations and a constant conversation between past and present
One of the harder parts of teaching history at Ks2 is to explain to pupils that history is a construct, and one that changes not only with new discoveries but with new opinions. History is not set in stone. Cue, Stonhenge....moreGreat new KS2 Iron Age activity: Pitching technological developments in Dragon’s Den. From mirrors to chariots
Inspired by an article by Karen Doull I read recently in the Historical Association's Primary History magazine, I decided to work up a fun activity on technological developments in the Iron Age. Six groups of 5 pupils each are given...moreUsing fiction in KS2 history. What can we read with our pupils during our Ancient Egypt topic?
For many years I have been advocating the use of fiction at KS2 to help pupils to realise the importance of creative imagination, disciplined by evidence, to fill the gaps left when the sources give out. My favourite for ancient Egypt...moreBanality of OFSTED’s KS1 judgements in history. They don’t know what they are talking about. Stick to your guns.
Sometimes you just have to say it. What on earth do they expect? reading through a number of OFSTED reports where history was chosen as part of the deep dive inspections, I was hoping to see some nuanced judgements and...moreNew GCSE lesson on First Crusade available to subscribers
Those following the Crusades option for GCSE might be interested to learn that a new lesson is shortly to be launched which helps students to write relevant answers to 2 distinct GCSE questions without including irrelevant material that really answers...more
Medieval Britain: The Crusades
Great lesson on the reasons for the First Crusade which uses a Zone of Relevance activity to show students how to answer the question set, not the one they want to answer. This is followed by a critique of a...more
How to get KS1 pupils into history-13 ideas
If you haven't already come across this School Run website offers 13 different ideas for making history come alive with your pupils, including games, story books, visits, history re-enactments etc. What i like about the list...more
Common assessment tasks in history at KS1
It is often difficult knowing how to assess pupils’ historical thinking at KS1. Are we simply testing literacy and /or recall? But what about historical understanding? Faced with this problem, I have been working with two large London primary schools....more
Medium-term planning for history at Key Stage 1
This part of the site contains a dozen detailed fully-developed enquiry-led, key question-driven medium term plans for all the major KS1 history -led topics. They have all been judged to be outstanding by an experienced OFSTED history inspector. All the...more
Who played with these toys in the past? and how can we know? KQ5 lesson
This is particularly suitable as an extension question for the older/ higher attaining pupils in KS1 if you are teaching this topic to a mixed-age class. Objectivesmore- Pupils are able to go beyond three generations to see people from over 100...
KQ6 How can we set up our own toy museum?
This final KS1 lesson on the Toys topic cements children’s understanding of old and new in an interesting way. Learning objectivesmore- Pupils are able to make reasoned decisions as to what constitute old and new items
- They can apply criteria to...
How do we know about Grace Darling’s actions which happened so long ago? KQ4
There are two distinct elements to this session. Firstly, pupils develop a sense of period and of evidence by thinking about the sources historians would use to find out about Grace Darling. Secondly, pupils act as history detectives, hunting down...more
Who played with these toys in the past? and how can we know? KQ5 lesson
This is particularly suitable as an extension question for the older/ higher attaining pupils in KS1 if you are teaching this topic to a mixed-age class. Objectivesmore- Pupils are able to go beyond three generations to see people from over 100...
KQ6 How can we set up our own toy museum?
This final KS1 lesson on the Toys topic cements children’s understanding of old and new in an interesting way. Learning objectivesmore- Pupils are able to make reasoned decisions as to what constitute old and new items
- They can apply criteria to...
How do we know about Grace Darling’s actions which happened so long ago? KQ4
There are two distinct elements to this session. Firstly, pupils develop a sense of period and of evidence by thinking about the sources historians would use to find out about Grace Darling. Secondly, pupils act as history detectives, hunting down...more
Great new KS2 Iron Age activity: Pitching technological developments in Dragon’s Den. From mirrors to chariots
Inspired by an article by Karen Doull I read recently in the Historical Association's Primary History magazine, I decided to work up a fun activity on technological developments in the Iron Age. Six groups of 5 pupils each are given...more
How to assess pupils’ progress in KS2 history. At last the answer that not only works but will work for you too.
Even though we will have had the National Curriculum for history ( albeit in different guises) for nearly 30 years, there hasn’t been a great deal of attention paid to, let alone progress with, the thorny issue of assessment. Up...moreThe top 10 things you need to know about chronology at KS2, but were afraid to ask.
The top 10 things you need to know about chronology at KS2, but were afraid to ask. 1.There is more to chronology than sequencing. While sequencing is fundamentally important, you also need to think about a range of other issues too....more
Rotten apple or …. How should we portray Dyer’s motivation in the Amritsar massacre?
This enquiry asks students to look critically at the depiction of the massacre in the film Gandhi as a way into trying to determine the motivation of Dyer. Students are provided with an initial set of influence cards which they...moreGreat new KS3/ GCSE lesson on Amritsar massacre looking at Gen. Dyer’s actions in the context of India and the Empire
Loading tomorrow is a great new lesson exploring the motivation of Gen. Dyer at Amritsar 1919. It starts with students analysing Attenborough's treatment in the 7 min excerpt from Gandhi followed by a 2-part thinking skills activity. Students are given...more
How should Germany be treated at the Paris peace conference? KS3 or KS4 task
This short but engaging task precedes any detailed analysis of the terms of the treaty itself. It has four distinct elements: prediction; analysis of a rarely seen German poster; attaching significance; and refining ideas based on most recent scholarship. Step 1 Firstly,...more
Medieval Britain: The Crusades
Great lesson on the reasons for the First Crusade which uses a Zone of Relevance activity to show students how to answer the question set, not the one they want to answer. This is followed by a critique of a...moreRotten apple or …. How should we portray Dyer’s motivation in the Amritsar massacre?
This enquiry asks students to look critically at the depiction of the massacre in the film Gandhi as a way into trying to determine the motivation of Dyer. Students are provided with an initial set of influence cards which they...moreHow should Germany be treated at the Paris peace conference? KS3 or KS4 task
This short but engaging task precedes any detailed analysis of the terms of the treaty itself. It has four distinct elements: prediction; analysis of a rarely seen German poster; attaching significance; and refining ideas based on most recent scholarship. Step 1 Firstly,...more
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About Me
Neil acts as an educational consultant for history for schools throughout the country. After teaching for 12 years, during which time he ran two departments and was a member of the Senior Leadership, Neil moved into advisory work,
For 18 years, he supported 70 secondary and 450 primary and special schools in Hampshire during which time he carried out over 60 national OFSTED inspections. More recently he has been heavily involved in running about 40 highly acclaimed national training courses a year for primary and secondary history teachers, as well as bespoke whole staff INSET days in primary schools.
