Key stage 2 history Archives

keystage 2 students in a lesson Welcome to the Key Stage 2 section of Keystage history where you will find masses of advice on how to make history both fun and satisfyingly challenging. You will be helped to design and plan an exciting primary history curriculum and taking into account the difficult areas of assessment and progression and mindful of the new focus on curriculum within OFSTED’s framework.

This is a tricky process at Key Stage 2. It is easy to lose continuity if you are not careful. You will be shown which skills and concepts are best developed in which contexts along with examples of key questions that have proved most effective in deepening learning. You also will be helped to make the most of history’s contribution to the whole curriculum by being shown cutting edge practice in the areas of cross-curricular history planning, literacy, thinking skills and creativity.

The site also offers a unique set of detailed lesson plans and resources for about 150 lessons which have been judged as outstanding by OFSTED. These cover all the major topics linked to an outstanding medium-term planner which expertly hows how to combine the most significant content with the development of conceptual understanding.

You will see below that these resources are constantly being added to , thereby ensuring that you have not only the latest and best advise but also the highest quality learning materials for your pupils.

Shang dynasty – KQ1 – Why do YOU think the Shang dynasty MIGHT be important?

Lively introductory session which creatively gets pupils to find things out for themselves and check their understanding using bells and…

Shang dynasty – KQ2 – How different was the Shang society to other civilizations at the time?

Using the expert/envoy technique to research and disseminate information from dossiers on a range of different aspects of Shang society,…

Shang dynasty – KQ3 – What can we tell about the Shang dynasty from the objects that have survived?

Here the focus is on developing enquiry-led learning which is as much about asking valid historical questions as it is…

Shang dynasty – KQ4 – Why has our understanding of the Shang dynasty changed so much in the last 100 years?

Opening up the tricky concept of interpretations of the past, this session enables pupils to grasp that history is always…

Shang dynasty – KQ5 – What was distinctive about the Shang people’s beliefs?

Having used a fast-aced Information Run activity to acquire the key points about Shang religion pupils are set the task…

Shang dynasty – KQ6 – If the Shang dynasty was so well organised why did come to an end after just 600 years and what makes it so special for people today?

Pupils compare 5 different simple textbook explanations, which they colour code, before building their own explanation, based on what seems…

Ancient Egypt and other ancient civilisations

You are learning about ancient Egypt, because it is the best known and most popular of the early civilisations that…

Crime and punishment knowledge organiser – KS2

You are studying this topic in history because it helps you to understand how things have changed,(and have stayed roughly…

Black and British knowledge organiser – KS2

You are studying this topic in the hope that you will discover how Black British is an important part of…

Victorian Britain knowledge organiser – KS2

You are learning about Victorian Britain because this was a really significant period of huge change in industry and technology,…

Mayan civilisation knowledge organiser – KS2

The height of Maya civilization came at the time when the Saxons were fighting the Vikings in Britain, but it…

Benin knowledge organiser – KS2

Benin was a very important civilization, not just within Africa but in world history too. An important part of what…

Teaching interpretations – top 10 key messages

In a recent article in the Historical Association’s Primary History publication the ever-reliable Tim Lomas attempted to identify the top…

Vikings knowledge organiser – KS2

Probably one of the most captivating of KS2 history topics, the Vikings present wonderful opportunities to capitalise on pupils’ fascination…

Anglo-Saxons knowledge organiser – KS2

During this period England emerged as a recognisable nation and Christianity became established. The recent coronation of Charles III is…

Keeping up to-date with teaching of the Maya – Archaeologists uncover scoreboard for ancient Maya ball game

In the Archaeological Zone of Chichén Itzá, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a…

Golden threads or Gordian knot? How to weave first order historical concepts into the fabric of your history curriculum

Talking about ‘first-order’ historical concepts, by which I mean ideas such as empire and invasion, civilization, power and authority has…

Keeping up-to-date with developments in primary history – February 2023

Every few years, the Primary wing of the Historical Association carry out a survey of primary schools to see what…

Adapting Keystage history lessons – FAQs

1. Why are lessons still called ‘outstanding’? I am often asked how the lessons section of the site should be…

Ancient Greece knowledge organiser – KS2

In your study of Ancient Greece you will learn how a civilization that flourished over 2500 years ago still influences…

Grasping the chronology nettle

Everyone knows that chronology is one of the key historical concepts pupils need to learn, and yet in very few…

Running timebox – First and foremost

Why Timebox teams? First and foremost, Timebox Teams should be fun. Behind the serious intent of improving pupils’ chronological knowledge…

Timebox – KS2 Pack

Mention the teaching of chronology to most infant teachers and their eyes glaze over. Their experience is that it is…

Roman Britain knowledge organiser – KS2

The arrival of the Romans to Britain and their occupation for over 350 years marks a turning point in the…

Stone Age to Iron Age knowledge organiser – KS2

The earliest known humans arrived in these lands around 900,000 years ago. During this time there were huge changes: the…

Building vocabulary to help pupils’ historical understanding. My 100 top KS2 words

Word lists are all very well but do we carefully plan when words are acquired and then applied in a…

Common assessment tasks in history at Key Stage 2

Many colleagues who have been sceptical about assessing history at Key Stage 2 have been won over by this simple…

Assessment for learning in Primary history

Assessment for Learning is much-vaunted and many-faceted. If we break down what it means in its constituent parts, many of…

Principles of good assessment in history at Key Stage 2

As OFSTED reports have pointed out for many years, assessment in history is not strong in most schools and the…

Judging pupils’ work at Key Stage 2

Teachers’ failure to carry out any useful diagnostic, formative or summative assessment in history at Key Stage 2 has come…

Target setting in history at Key Stage 2

With the emphasis that the Primary Strategy places on Assessment for Learning and the sharing of objectives, it would seem…

General advice regarding progression in history at Key Stage 2

A definitive paper explaining exactly what I think you should be doing in the realms of progression to help ensure…

Progression by strand in history at KS2: a key element of deep dives

One of the most important tasks that a history subject leader carries out is that of helping colleagues to build…

Everything you wanted to know about progression in history at KS2 but couldn’t find anywhere!

Progression in history at KS2: part of your preparation for an OFSTED history deep dive Planning for progression in history…

10 places to go to find out about your local area

1. Go to your library Your local library will nearly always have a local history section that can tell you…

A pupil response to KS2 assessment task on women in Ancient Greece

Karl is in Y5 and has been taught in a school where standards are high but progress is slightly below…

Taking on history leadership: doing the right things – 10 key steps

Taking on subject leadership can be a daunting prospect, especially if it is your first. When there is so much…

KS2 – Sharing the history learning journey with your pupils

An important part of planning your KS2 curriculum is being able to share the rationale with pupils and parents. So…

8 ways of improving the BAME dimension of your primary history curriculum

Bound as we all are,and not just as teachers, by the Equality Act, (not to mention our public sector duty),…

′100′ great ideas for teaching history at KS2

This section describes the best of the imaginative ideas I have seen work successfully in the teaching of history at…

Black and British – KQ1 – How shall we tell the story of the first Black Britons in Britain?

Pupils watch a brief introductory video for just 70 seconds, the point at which the film stops short of identifying…

Black and British – KQ2 – What part did Black people play in British life when they started to settle 500 years ago?

Focusing on four key documents, pupils have to work out what we can say about the role of Black people…

Black and British – KQ3 – What difference did the slave trade make to the experience of the Black people?

Having understood the nature of the transatlantic slave trade, and Britain’s role within it, pupils work in expert groups to…

Black and British – KQ4 – When so many Black people rushed to fight in the two world wars, why then is it only recently that their sacrifice has been properly recognised?

When so many Black people rushed to fight in the two world wars, why then is it only recently that…

Black and British – KQ5 – How did the arrival of the Empire Windrush change the way Black People were treated in Britain?

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Key stage 2 history

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