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
Teaching Mary Anning as a significant person at KS1
Many of you will know that I have been trying to wean schools off teaching JUST Florence Nightingale, and have encouraged teachers to look at female pioneers. AS we all know,KS1 pupils are fascinated by dinosaurs and fossils. Mary Anning...moreNew explanation as to why Mayan civilization collapsed- my KS2 kids can do better
Below is a recent short explanation as to why the Mayan civilization collapsed. I think that KS2 pupils can do better, with the right stimulus. This comes in the form of our outstanding lesson.https://www.keystagehistory.co.uk/keystage-2/why-did-the-mayan-empire-decline/ The website lesson's blurb goes like this:When...more
How will your school commemorate the end of World War One in 2018?
This short advice sheet invites schools to consider how they will commemorate the centenary of armistice day and provides an illustrated PowerPoint presentation offering 8 attractive ideas to set you thinking. This supports two outstanding lessons that feature on the website:more 7 best ways to make sure that your history curriculum is OFSTED 2019-ready
There has been a lot of coverage recently of OFSTED’s intention to focus more on the quality, range and impact of the curriculum, rather than simply looking at data. Sean Harford recently talked of the 3 Is: Intent, Implementation, Impact....moreCommemorating centenary of end ing of World War One: Using fiction to teach about remembrance at KS1 and 2
Fiction provides opportunities for children to explore what life might have been like for people living during the war and, as Megan Brownrigg from Strauss House Productions suggests, may help children understand the effects of war. She draws attention to...moreInteresting article on why history matters
Have a look at Richard Harris article on why history matters....moreWhy Learn History (When It’s Already on Your Phone)
Why Learn History (When It's Already on Your Phone). Sam Wineburg's just-published book in which he makes it clear that the current hand-wringing over U.S. students' ignorance of history is nothing new. It's a concern that stretches back to at least...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 is that they...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
How will your school commemorate the end of World War One in 2018?
This short advice sheet invites schools to consider how they will commemorate the centenary of armistice day and provides an illustrated PowerPoint presentation offering 8 attractive ideas to set you thinking. This supports two outstanding lessons that feature on the website: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 is that they...moreExcellent 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
How will your school commemorate the end of World War One in 2018?
This short advice sheet invites schools to consider how they will commemorate the centenary of armistice day and provides an illustrated PowerPoint presentation offering 8 attractive ideas to set you thinking. This supports two outstanding lessons that feature on the website: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 is that they...moreExcellent 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
KS2 Islam -Today is anniversary of start of Building of Baghdad
If you are teaching Islamic civilization at KS2 you might like to watch a short podcast which looks at the start of the building of Baghdad on 31 July 762....more
Brief 10 question diagnostic assessment task for KS2 Ancient Egypt
Pupils have to answer 10 fairly open ended questions for which answers are provided reflecting the knowledge and understanding outlined in the medium term planner. Q1 How can we know so much about a civilization such as Ancient Egypt that lived...more
Planning for teaching Ancient Greece KS2
Outstanding new medium term planning for Ancient Greece, matched to 2016 history national curriculum The main foci throughout this planner are: Ideas, Beliefs, Attitudes (especially the role of women); Way of life (contrasting Athens with Sparta and grasping that ideas flourished...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
What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from a study of their Olympics? KQ5 part 1
moreWe thought we would offer you a range of different cameos showing how the history of the Olympics could be imaginatively integrated into your current teaching.
The teaching activities below have all be tried and tested in schools and...
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...
GCSE History: Guide to planning and teaching Edexcel 9-1 GCSE
E Lots of thinking has taken place to decide the best way to structure the new Edexcel 9-1 GCSE history course. The rationale behind this plan comes straight from successful classroom practice.. One of my former Advanced Skills Teachers has written this about...moreGreat new KS4 resource on migration : Why were the Jews expelled from England in 1290?
Really helpful resources provided for KS4 teachers of GCSE Migration topic written by University of Oxford academics. This is just the sort of collaboration we need to see. Allows teachers to go beyond the textbook without expecting them to...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
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.
