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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At last OFSTED is seeing sense with its lesson observations
For 7 of the most miserable years of my professional life, I had to carry out OFSTED inspections. Not because I wanted to but because Hampshire wanted me to. I was always deeply troubled by having to make judgements about...more- Key Stage History is an essential resource for subject development, as it provides top quality new teaching resources and first class advice on leading improving departments. It is at the top of my purchase list every year. Neil has gone...more
Why was Athens able to be so strong in the 5th and 6th century BC? KQ3
Part 1 looks at characteristic features of Classical Athens. This is a simple teacher-led explanation using a few PowerPoint clues. Part 2 Looks at the causes of the unlikely victory of Athens over Persia and is a separate full outstanding lesson...moreWhat good history writing at KS2 looks like.
moreOver the next few mont
hs we will be featuring examples of high-quality writing from pupils from Y1 through to Y6. The first , shown here, comes from a Y5/6... KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed
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You have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles, suggestions, actual tasks and mark schemes to assessing actual pieces of... How to get high quality written answers from your KS2 pupils
As we all know, developing pupils' extended written answers requires structures preparation. Pupils need to develop their own thinking on the topic. they then need to develop a vocabulary to articulate their ideas. They then need to voice these orally,...moreGoing to the Seaside KS1 Assessing your children’s understanding
Just to let you know that we're piloting a new short diagnostic assessment task on going to the seaside 100 years ago, using the picture here as a stimulus. We've worked out a detailed mark scheme which links to national...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
KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed
moreYou have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles, suggestions, actual tasks and mark schemes to assessing actual pieces of... Going to the Seaside KS1 Assessing your children’s understanding
Just to let you know that we're piloting a new short diagnostic assessment task on going to the seaside 100 years ago, using the picture here as a stimulus. We've worked out a detailed mark scheme which links to national...more
Why did the Wright brothers succeed where others had failed? KQ3 Activity1
Sarah Duck describes how her class tackled this key question. The task involves children reading small diamond-shaped text cards, to decide which statements are true or false. They then put aside the false ones and work only with the true ones. ...more
KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed
moreYou have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles, suggestions, actual tasks and mark schemes to assessing actual pieces of... Going to the Seaside KS1 Assessing your children’s understanding
Just to let you know that we're piloting a new short diagnostic assessment task on going to the seaside 100 years ago, using the picture here as a stimulus. We've worked out a detailed mark scheme which links to national...moreWhy did the Wright brothers succeed where others had failed? KQ3 Activity1
Sarah Duck describes how her class tackled this key question. The task involves children reading small diamond-shaped text cards, to decide which statements are true or false. They then put aside the false ones and work only with the true ones. ...more
Why was Athens able to be so strong in the 5th and 6th century BC? KQ3
Part 1 looks at characteristic features of Classical Athens. This is a simple teacher-led explanation using a few PowerPoint clues. Part 2 Looks at the causes of the unlikely victory of Athens over Persia and is a separate full outstanding lesson...more
What can we work out about everyday life in Ancient Athens? KQ2 part 1
There are three distinct parts to Key Question 2 but each centrally based around the need for pupils to use evidence of different forms. The introductory PowerPoint shows 4 contrasting types of evidence: buildings, coins, statues and monuments, and archaeological...moreNew KS2 assessment task: Stone Age to Iron Age
As you know we have been working hard to create a complete set of simple, easy-to-run and easy-to-mark assessment tasks that can be used formatively as well as summatively. Our aim is to ensure that each topic has at least...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
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...
Reagan’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...moreFun anachronism-spotting activity set in 1796, for GCSE History of Medicine
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Most anachronism activities used in schools are the rather naff ones put before Y7 pupils in an introduction to What is History. You know the sort of thing: Roman soldiers... New GCSE Crime and Punishment resources
To support the teaching of the GCSE thematic study, Crime and Punishment, the Digital Panopticon team has developed Criminal Lives, 1780-1925 an exhibition and education pack for schools. This is an eight panel pop-up banner exhibition that uses historical images...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.
