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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Teaching Stone Age to Iron Age at KS2:Building your confidence
This excellent website offers you a very short, reliable summary of all the key points you need to teach to your KS2 pupils. Towards the end of the topic you might like to see how your pupils fare with...moreTrump’s woeful ignorance of own country’s Cold War history
I know we shouldn't be surprised when Trump comits another faux pas, but I can't help admitting that my hackles rose particularly high this afternoon when I heard him claim that 'relations between Russia and the USA had never been...moreLocal Authorities improve failing schools better than academies
Councils are best when it comes to boosting the inspection grades of inadequate schools, analysis of official figures published today suggests. Researchers looked at how much schools rated inadequate by Ofsted in 2013 had improved by the end of 2017. Those schools...moreNew GCSE Migration resource
Immigrant England, 1300-1550 - is now available for pre-order from Manchester University Press in paperback . Compulsory reading! http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.ukmore 
What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from their interest in the theatre? KQ5 part 2
This key question is divided into two distinct parts, starting with Part 1 - the Olympics. This has its own outstanding fully-resourced series of tasks which can be found on the site. Part 2 below looks at Ancient Greek theatre: To...moreIgnorant minister Nick Gibb says history teachers don’t use textbooks
Nick Gibb climbed on his hobby horse again this week and criticised teachers for not using textbooks more. The replacement of textbooks with work sheets and hundreds of thousands of bespoke written lesson plans, he claims, has added to teacher...moreBringing GCSE Crime and Punishment right up-to-date
Latest statistics prove invaluable when making comparisons across time. Today, fewer than 5% of street robberies and burglaries are being solved across England and Wales. Unsolved crimes have risen by 20% in the last 3 years There has been an 83% rise in...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
Curriculum models for KS1 history
It seems a logical extension of the advice on long-term planning of the 2014 curriculum to offer you some models of what it might look like. As you know, the devil is in the detail. With the current emphasis firmly...more
Excellent resource on Great Fire of London for KS1
The Museum of London has a wonderful selection of teaching resources on its website including an infographic poster, an interactive story and perhaps best of all aMinecraft version of 1666’s tragic tale. Find all of these here,...more
Do we go on seaside holidays for the same reason people went 100 years ago? KQ4
Children discuss the reasons they might have for going on a seaside holiday NOW and then think of the different reasons why people might have gone 100 years ago. Slides 2 and 3 of the PowerPoint provide some clues. Slide...more
How should we remember Grace Darling?
moreThis last key question of 6 on the medium-term planning, focuses on her legacy and why we should commemorate her. It introduces pupils to a number of ways in which people are remembered before inviting them to use their...
Excellent resource on Great Fire of London for KS1
The Museum of London has a wonderful selection of teaching resources on its website including an infographic poster, an interactive story and perhaps best of all aMinecraft version of 1666’s tragic tale. Find all of these here,...moreDo we go on seaside holidays for the same reason people went 100 years ago? KQ4
Children discuss the reasons they might have for going on a seaside holiday NOW and then think of the different reasons why people might have gone 100 years ago. Slides 2 and 3 of the PowerPoint provide some clues. Slide...moreHow should we remember Grace Darling?
moreThis last key question of 6 on the medium-term planning, focuses on her legacy and why we should commemorate her. It introduces pupils to a number of ways in which people are remembered before inviting them to use their...
What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from their interest in the theatre? KQ5 part 2
This key question is divided into two distinct parts, starting with Part 1 - the Olympics. This has its own outstanding fully-resourced series of tasks which can be found on the site. Part 2 below looks at Ancient Greek theatre: To...more
Under the Cloth: sorting the muddled collection. Is it all Greek to you? Smart Task KQ6a
To introduce the notion of the Greeks having a major influence on our lives today use the activity called Under the cloth. Simply place copies of the pictures 2 –23 (printed as A4 so large enough to be seen by...more
What did the Greeks do for us? Evaluating the video. KQ6d
This task puts pupils in the position as evaluators of a BBC film: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/z9kmhv4 Instead of taking everything the video says as gospel, pupils have to predict which aspects of Greek legacy they think the film should cover and then the...more
So you think your pupils know about Witchcraft in early modern Britain.
1. Were witches burned in English-speaking countries? A. No, they were hanged not burned, because witchcraft was a felony. This was also true in North America. 2. Were millions of witches put to death? A. No, the real number was nearer 50,000 across...more
Teaching the British Empire KS3
In a recent article for the Telegraph, journalist and writer Jeremy Paxman made the following case for teaching the history of the British Empire:more[It] explains so much about who we are now… Imperial history explains both why Britain has a...
How far did life really change when William the Conqueror became king after the Battle of Hastings? SMART TASK KS3
Pupils have to design a set of stamps to show the 5 biggest changes introduced by William the Conqueror after Hastings, but first they need to place ideas on a spectrum ranging from massive change, through little change to continuity. Starter In...more
Bringing GCSE Crime and Punishment right up-to-date
Latest statistics prove invaluable when making comparisons across time. Today, fewer than 5% of street robberies and burglaries are being solved across England and Wales. Unsolved crimes have risen by 20% in the last 3 years There has been an 83% rise in...moreTeaching the Bloody Code at GCSE
Thought you might like to see Mel Jones' lesson on Bloody Code using original archival material from the Old Bailey. You can read the full lesson description here ...moreReagan’s ‘tear down this wall’ end of Cold War speech
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood just 100 yards away from the concrete barrier dividing East and West Berlin and uttered some of the most unforgettable words of his presidency: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this...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.
