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
History in the primary curriculum: OFSTED’s view October 2017
How refreshing it was to listen to Amanda Spielman's analysis of what is wrong with the curriculum in English schools. In a nutshell: too little thinking about the curriculum and too much testing. This has been said, not just by...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...moreFinal lesson on KS2 Crime and Punishment thematic unit now on the site
Just to let you all know that the KS2 thematic unit is now complete . Not only is there an outstanding planner but you also have all the fully resourced outstanding lesson activities to go with it. Feedback so far...more
Has the way we catch and punish criminals improved in the last 100 years? KQ6 Crime and Punishment enquiry
Having analysed a graph showing the way the prison population has risen so dramatically over the last 75 years, pupils speculate as to why that might be before ranking some possible reasons. They then learn about new crimes before preparing...moreBrand new Ancient Greece planner for KS2
After months of refining, we will be launching our new Ancient Greece planner tomorrow. All six enquiry questions and home study will tie in all the outstanding lessons as well as adding a dozen new smart tasks. Most of these...more
Why did so much change happen in crime and punishment the 19th century? KQ5
Great range of activities including: generating enquiry questions about increase in crime from a line graph; explanation builder to work out why; looking at individual punishments on a harshness spectrum and drawing on a range of sources to create an imaginative...moreGetting your history key questions right and dangers of getting them wrong
I try to avoid looking at GCSE specifications as they are usually so dull. You might think that this is a good thing: at least they are reliable and don't take risks with students' futures. But if you look at...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
Has man ever been to the moon and how can we know for sure? KQ1
Varied introduction to the Moon Landing topic with pupils actively involved in sequencing, speculating and then the killer activity called Prove it in which they have to use a gallery of visual clues to find evidence to prove that man...more
What do you think the Wright brothers did to make them famous? KQ1
At the very start of the topic, on the assumption that you haven’t told them what the topic is about!! pupils are shown slide 2 in the form of a slow reveal. 4 coloured boxes obscure a picture of the...more
How did people react to Amy Johnson’s famous flight? KS1 activity
moreHow did people react to Amy at the time, and how do we know? KQ4
Children generate adjectives to describe Amy’s arrival in Australia using a photograph and short newspaper extracts and then are given 10 statements which they have to...
Has man ever been to the moon and how can we know for sure? KQ1
Varied introduction to the Moon Landing topic with pupils actively involved in sequencing, speculating and then the killer activity called Prove it in which they have to use a gallery of visual clues to find evidence to prove that man...moreWhat do you think the Wright brothers did to make them famous? KQ1
At the very start of the topic, on the assumption that you haven’t told them what the topic is about!! pupils are shown slide 2 in the form of a slow reveal. 4 coloured boxes obscure a picture of the...moreHow did people react to Amy Johnson’s famous flight? KS1 activity
moreHow did people react to Amy at the time, and how do we know? KQ4
Children generate adjectives to describe Amy’s arrival in Australia using a photograph and short newspaper extracts and then are given 10 statements which they have to...
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...moreHas the way we catch and punish criminals improved in the last 100 years? KQ6 Crime and Punishment enquiry
Having analysed a graph showing the way the prison population has risen so dramatically over the last 75 years, pupils speculate as to why that might be before ranking some possible reasons. They then learn about new crimes before preparing...moreWhy did so much change happen in crime and punishment the 19th century? KQ5
Great range of activities including: generating enquiry questions about increase in crime from a line graph; explanation builder to work out why; looking at individual punishments on a harshness spectrum and drawing on a range of sources to create an imaginative...more
Hitler’s propaganda: the cult of leader. Reading internal clues. KS3 & 4 Smart Task
The aim of this short task is to encourage students to look really closely at images for what is there, not what they think should be there. Students are asked to consider how they might expect Hitler to be portrayed on...more
Why did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?
moreIf Britain was only a few days away from defeat in August 1940 how on earth did she win the Battle of Britain a month later?
PLEASE NOTE This lesson was aimed at Key Stage 3 but should be capable of...
Great starter on interpretations of Henry VIII
Working closely with academic authors, in this case Catherine Fletcher, always gives a fascinating insight into what historians want to write and publishers want to sell. This is fertile ground for exploring the question of interpretations with pupils at KS2...more
Hitler’s propaganda: the cult of leader. Reading internal clues. KS3 & 4 Smart Task
The aim of this short task is to encourage students to look really closely at images for what is there, not what they think should be there. Students are asked to consider how they might expect Hitler to be portrayed on...moreWhy did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?
moreIf Britain was only a few days away from defeat in August 1940 how on earth did she win the Battle of Britain a month later?
PLEASE NOTE This lesson was aimed at Key Stage 3 but should be capable of...
What was the impact of the Californian Gold Rush 1848-9? GCSE SMART TASK
In this series of short tasks GCSE students predict, infer, gather information and then improve existing explanations of the impact of the Californian Gold Rush. Firstly, students have to use their existing contextual knowledge to predict what the likely consequences might...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.
