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.
Recently Added
- Just to let subscribers know that the missing part of the jigsaw of the Roman Empire planner and lessons is about to be put in place. A very uPowerPoint and lesson description has been produced which links pupils' Iron Age...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...
Is this another find to help us understand Stonehenge?
Yesterday's more interesting news centred on a newly-published report on the finds at Durrington Wells on Salisbury Plain. As the place where the builders of Stonehenge lived and feasted, Durrington Walls is key to unlocking the story of the wider...more
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
How did sea rescue improve as a result of Grace Darling’s story? KQ5
This session comprises 2 principal activities: matching descriptions of lifeboats to time periods to deepen pupils’ sense of change, continuity and chronology; sequencing and then selecting images for a Museum about most significant changes to sea rescue since Grace Darling's...moreThinking about evidence at KS2. How do we know what happened in Saxons times?
Where does our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons come from? It is important that we ask the recurring question How do we know? at least once in each topic, if pupils are to grasp that history is not THE story of the...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
- Just to let subscribers know that the missing part of the jigsaw of the Roman Empire planner and lessons is about to be put in place. A very uPowerPoint and lesson description has been produced which links pupils' Iron Age...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
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...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
Which cartoon best explains the paradox of the Nazi Soviet pact?
moreThe Unholy Alliance: why on earth did Hitler and Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact when they clearly hated each other?
Starting with the historical puzzle of why Stalin and Hitler signed the Non-Aggression pact on August 1939 which so shocked the...
Follow Us
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.
