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 up-to-date, authoritative, cutting edge, expert advice on issues such as deep dive inspections and you will be inspired by all the creative planning and teaching ideas. Subscribers love the hundreds 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 rationales for curriculum planning, through to raising standards, assessment, progression and inspiring colleagues. This site is a must for any forward-looking subject leader.
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British Empire – How can we infer so much about the empire from a study of just one map and the person who created it?
This session starts by looking at the information to be gleaned from a well-known 1886 map of the empire and ends with them writing an evaluative expert caption to accompany a textbook image which refers explicitly to the provenance Objectivesmore- Students...
Richard I: Lionheart or loser should we keep his statue – SMART TASK
This short task puts pupils in the role of spin doctors who have to ‘big up’ the reputation of Richard the Lionheart. There is a lobby of people who feel that his statue outside the Houses of Parliament should be...moreChanges for the 2021 GCSE History examination announced by AQA today
AQA GCSE History (8145) Students entering for GCSE History exams next summer will have a choice of studies with one compulsory study. This means that in summer 2021, AQA GCSE History students will only have to answer questions on three out...moreVictorian poor and the workhouse; what does Martha’s story tell us? NEW September 2020
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NB This is an additional lesson that does not appear on the planner.
This topic couldn’t be more relevant to today. We frequently hear it said that the poor are always with us:... 
Medium Term Planner for Thematic unit Beyond Face Value Year 6
This end-of-key stage unit fulfils the post-1066 thematic requirement of the National Curriculum, but it does so in a particularly imaginative way. Instead of looking at just one period, here we look at three. Each has been deliberately chosen as...moreWhat does good leadership of history look like at KS 1 and 2 according to recent OFSTED deep dive reports
My analysis of all the recent 'pre-Covid19 ' reports reveals the following comments about primary history leadership, both positive and negative. None of you have the time to trawl through these reports, but they do make interesting reading if you...more
KS1 Medium Term Planner for Spreading the Word: Caxton to Bell
The ‘significant people’ element of the KS1 history curriculum now requires pupils to compare achievements of individuals within a linked theme - in this case communication in a topic called ‘spreading the word’. We have chosen Caxton and Bell, rather...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
KS1 Medium Term Planner for Spreading the Word: Caxton to Bell
The ‘significant people’ element of the KS1 history curriculum now requires pupils to compare achievements of individuals within a linked theme - in this case communication in a topic called ‘spreading the word’. We have chosen Caxton and Bell, rather...more
KS1 Medium Term Planner: Louis Braille
The current history curriculum at KS1 asks schools to provide a little more coherence in their choice of significant people to study, suggesting that they might be linked by theme. I agree with this improvement. Here we have a possible...more
KQ1 Why do you think Louis Braille is remembered today: Smart task
moreStep 1
Start by showing the image of Louis Braille on slide 1 of the PowerPoint. Explain that he is a very famous man who lived 200 years ago and that what he invented is still used today, even though he...
KS1 Medium Term Planner for Spreading the Word: Caxton to Bell
The ‘significant people’ element of the KS1 history curriculum now requires pupils to compare achievements of individuals within a linked theme - in this case communication in a topic called ‘spreading the word’. We have chosen Caxton and Bell, rather...moreKS1 Medium Term Planner: Louis Braille
The current history curriculum at KS1 asks schools to provide a little more coherence in their choice of significant people to study, suggesting that they might be linked by theme. I agree with this improvement. Here we have a possible...moreKQ1 Why do you think Louis Braille is remembered today: Smart task
moreStep 1
Start by showing the image of Louis Braille on slide 1 of the PowerPoint. Explain that he is a very famous man who lived 200 years ago and that what he invented is still used today, even though he...
Victorian poor and the workhouse; what does Martha’s story tell us? NEW September 2020
moreNB This is an additional lesson that does not appear on the planner.
This topic couldn’t be more relevant to today. We frequently hear it said that the poor are always with us:... Medium Term Planner for Thematic unit Beyond Face Value Year 6
This end-of-key stage unit fulfils the post-1066 thematic requirement of the National Curriculum, but it does so in a particularly imaginative way. Instead of looking at just one period, here we look at three. Each has been deliberately chosen as...more
From Caesar’s invasions to Claudius’ conquest. KQ1 part 1
This first part of the first enquiry links to earlier work on the Iron Age and takes pupils from Julius Caesar’s two short-lived invasions through to anticipating Claudius’ invasion and conquest just under 100 years later.moreStep 1
It is important that...
British Empire – How can we infer so much about the empire from a study of just one map and the person who created it?
This session starts by looking at the information to be gleaned from a well-known 1886 map of the empire and ends with them writing an evaluative expert caption to accompany a textbook image which refers explicitly to the provenance Objectivesmore- Students...
Richard I: Lionheart or loser should we keep his statue – SMART TASK
This short task puts pupils in the role of spin doctors who have to ‘big up’ the reputation of Richard the Lionheart. There is a lobby of people who feel that his statue outside the Houses of Parliament should be...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...more
Richard I: Lionheart or loser should we keep his statue – SMART TASK
This short task puts pupils in the role of spin doctors who have to ‘big up’ the reputation of Richard the Lionheart. There is a lobby of people who feel that his statue outside the Houses of Parliament should be...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...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.
