Keystage 2 Free Samples

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: What do we...

Imaginative learning activities at Key Stage 2

This section accompanies the ones on teaching and learning approaches. It offers you a few ideas you may not have tried for a while, or at least not within the current topic. It is always a good idea to whet pupils' appetite for a topic...

The opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb KS2: KQ3 part 1

The opening of Tutankhamun's tomb: a reconstruction relay

The activity that forms the basis of this lesson is called reconstruction relay. It is GUARANTEED to enthuse even the most recalcitrant Y4 boy! Pupils have to travel down a tunnel of tables to see pictures of the...

If life was so hard in Victorian cities, why did Wilf move his family there?

If life was so hard for families in the towns why did so many leave the countryside and move to the towns in Victorian times? - a history mystery Starting a lesson with an apparent contradiction is a good way of engaging pupils interest. This 'history...

The mystery of the empty Saxon grave

This highly engaging lesson places pupils in the role of detectives. After a short briefing they have to work out the significance of the various clues found in the bodiless ship burial. They then use their deductive power to work out which of 4 suspects...

Eric the evacuee

Extending the BBC website on Eric the evacuee

The BBC children’s history section has been in touch with the school asking for their help in extending their website section on Eric the evacuee. There is nothing wrong with it: indeed, it is very popular. That’s why...

Long term planning for history at Key Stage 1

Superficially, Key Stage1 seems the least complex history curriculum to plan because the burden of content to be covered seems manageable. Scratch beneath the short section that describes the demands of Key Stage 1 history and you'll find lurking some significant issues to be resolved....

Linking history with numeracy; a Tudor enquiry Key question 3 part 2

More glass than wall? Is this a fair description of Hardwick Hall? And how do we find out?

This SMART task links history with numeracy asking pupils to apply numeracy techniques to a famous historical building. Pupils are shown a photograph of an early Tudor building,...

Primary History: Teaching Victorian Britain Key Stage 2

Is this what Dickens' London looked like?

Astonishingly, at a stroke, Gove has removed the Victorians from the KS2 history curriculum where it had reigned supreme for decades. At least he thinks he has. Most primary teachers will not give up this topic without a struggle so will either use their locality...

Using a Victorian census to discover what life was like 100 years ago

There are 4 separate ways of approaching this topic, each becoming increasingly more ambitious. Stage 1 is featured below. Stages 2-4 are to follow, though draft material is available to view on request. Stage 1: Featured here, for younger children needing some structured support and working...

Henry VIII on the money. The strange case of the one pound coin

This is not so much a full lesson as an introduction to the Break with Rome. It revolves around the use of a pound coin. Pupils do a rubbing and try to decipher the letters on a modern one pound coin . But what does...

Victorian Cities

If life was so hard for families in the towns why did so many leave the countryside and move to the towns in Victorian times? - a history mystery

Starting a lesson with an apparent contradiction is a good way of engaging pupils interest....

Extending the BBC website on Eric the evacuee KQ2

The BBC children’s history section has been in touch with the school asking for their help in extending their website section on Eric the evacuee. There is nothing wrong with it: indeed, it is very popular. That’s why they want to make it longer. There...

The mystery of the empty Saxon grave. Anglo-Saxons KQ2

This highly engaging lesson places pupils in the role of detectives. After a short briefing they have to work out the significance of the various clues found in the bodiless ship burial. They then use their deductive power to work out which of 4 suspects...

History and literacy – Making sense of a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

Pupils are given a copy of a letter from Henry to Anne Boleyn. It appears, at first glance to be impossibly hard to read - so many old-fashioned words, such an old-fashioned way of writing, and so long! But if the text is attacked in...

Assessment of interpretations of Boudicca

Below is an account of an assessment task on Boudicca , with downloadable resources, just one of many assessed tasks on the site. You will find at least one for each history-led topic covering the full range of skills and concepts. They tell you...

How will your school commemorate the end of World War One in 2018?

Imaginative learning activities at Key Stage 2

The opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb KS2: KQ3 part 1

The opening of Tutankhamun's tomb: a reconstruction relay

If life was so hard in Victorian cities, why did Wilf move his family there?

The mystery of the empty Saxon grave

Eric the evacuee

Extending the BBC website on Eric the evacuee

Long term planning for history at Key Stage 1

Linking history with numeracy; a Tudor enquiry Key question 3 part 2

More glass than wall? Is this a fair description of Hardwick Hall? And how do we find out?

Primary History: Teaching Victorian Britain Key Stage 2

Using a Victorian census to discover what life was like 100 years ago

Henry VIII on the money. The strange case of the one pound coin

Victorian Cities

Extending the BBC website on Eric the evacuee KQ2

The mystery of the empty Saxon grave. Anglo-Saxons KQ2

History and literacy – Making sense of a letter from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn

Assessment of interpretations of Boudicca

Useful links

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