keystage 2 students in a lessonWelcome to the section for teaching history at KS2 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.

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Progression in primary history: Top 6 ideas

A lot of you have been tasked with trying to specify what progression looks like in history in your school….

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planner
Planner for teaching Black Death to today: Keeping healthy over time

This intrinsically interesting topic has been chosen as a long-term development study as it not only builds on the fact…

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black death
Keeping healthy – KQ1 – What does the Black Death of 1348 tell us about people’s knowledge of health 700 years ago?

Pupils are hooked in with a story of the impact of the Black Death on one family. This is followed…

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plague doctor
Keeping healthy – KQ2 – How much more did they know about keeping healthy by the time of the Great Plague of 1665?

Pupils’ attention is focused on the Great Plague of 1665. They consider the likely efficacy of methods used to combat…

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cholera
Keeping healthy – KQ3 – Did such huge changes in people’s health suddenly take place about 200 years ago?

Pupils’ attention is grabbed with a powerful story, supported by detailed analysis of two contemporary sources.  Having had the changes…

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pasteur
Keeping healthy – KQ4 -Which were the biggest breakthroughs in people’s health in the 19th century?

In this session the focus moves to pupils’ working more independently, carrying out their own research in groups and then…

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junk food
Keeping healthy – KQ5 – Has everyone become healthier in the last 100 years?

Starting with a contemporary cartoon analysis, which hints at highly relevant current life-style related health problems that still have not…

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Keeping healthy – KQ6 – When was the best time to live in terms of keeping heathy? What would the dates of your preferred lifespan of 80 years be?

In this brief concluding session, pupils look back over 300 years of history and make a judgement about the best…

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aldborough
The Roman legacy and the Saxon Dark Ages? – In the news – September 2025

Almost inevitably you will ask with your class the time-honoured question: What have the Romans ever done for us? Alongside…

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portrait of henry viii
Fitness for purpose versus novelty

Visiting over 300 primary schools in my career, several of them many times over, during many years as a primary…

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big picture
Seeing the BIG PICTURE of the past

“Big picture” history teaching emphasizes the connecting of specific historical events and links topics to broader themes and contexts. It…

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Britain during World War Two (WW2) end of unit quiz – KS2

You’ve spent some time diving into one of the most important events in modern history – World War Two. You’ve…

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planning
Thinking skills in history at Key Stage 2; encouraging metacognition

To encourage metacognition – some initial ideas of activities that promote thinking skills. You will find examples of these in…

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leading
Interviewing pupils

Much has been written in recent years about the value of listening to the pupils’ voice, not least in terms…

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Creativity KS2
Your Key Stage 2 history portfolio – What should it contain?

20 questions for you to ponder and answer  What should my KS2 history portfolio contain? What sort of work do…

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anglo saxons
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – The Anglo-Saxons

Planning the Anglo Saxons topic effectively ensures meaningful, engaging learning that builds pupils’ knowledge and thinking skills. These top tips…

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women in ancient greece
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Ancient Greece

A study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world With its emphasis squarely on the…

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local history
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Local history

Are you going to do more than one study, one period study in depth and one overview, one in Y3…

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Blitz spirit
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Thematic post-1066

A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066. Try to make…

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vikings
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – The Vikings in Britain

Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor. There are two key…

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early islam
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Benin / Islam / Maya

Focus on why we are teaching this topic at KS2, often for the first time. Why was this civilization quite…

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why did romans invade
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Roman Empire and its impact on Britain

Whilst it might look as if this is a bigger unit than simply the existing Roman Britain unit, in reality…

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ancient egypt
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Ancient civilisations

For most of you, you will continue teaching Ancient Egypt as before, for 80% of this topic. You MUST give…

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stoneage
Top tips for planning your KS2 history studies – Stone Age to Iron Age

The British Isles has been populated by humans for 750.000 years but only became an island when the ice sheets…

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world history
How well are you intertwining national and global history?

Last year saw the new Labour government abort plans to create a model primary history curriculum which would have offered…

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leading
What to look for when evaluating the quality of history in your school – KS2

Evaluating the quality of history in your school involves examining curriculum breadth, teaching effectiveness, pupil engagement, and progression in historical…

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anglo saxons
Anglo-Saxon end of unit quiz

The Anglo-Saxons were people who came from parts of modern-day Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands to settle in Britain after…

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tudors KO
Tudor Britain knowledge organiser – KS2

You are learning about the Tudors as it was a period of history that helped to shape the Britain we…

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historical association
Latest historian’s wisdom on “Alfred the Great. How great was he?” in 2025

Source: Historical Association (membership required) Francis Leneghan is Professor of Old English at the University of Oxford. In this article…

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council of europe
New guidelines for 21st century history

In a recently-published study by the Council of Europe entitled “Quality history in the 21st century” a number of key…

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crime and punishment
Crime and punishment – assessment task

This task is provisional and adopts a different approach to the assessment task on the site you might have tried…

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ha
Review of 2025 Historical Association survey

In addition to reading the OFSTED Lead Inspectors’ reports which are available online one of the ways of getting a…

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flag fen
Stone Age to Iron Age – assessment task

Very short diagnostic assessment in which pupils are the teachers. They have to correct a pupil’s description of the Bronze…

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literacy
Assessment for learning in history at Key Stages 1and 2 (some key ideas from the Primary Strategy)

Elements of AfL Ethos Attitudes Learning environment Routines and behaviours More focus should be placed on: Use of curricular targets…

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planning
 10 questions to ask yourself about the KS2 history curriculum

Question 1: Have you exploited the reduced amount of prescription in the new curriculum, or are you still teaching some…

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ancient egypt afterlife
Ancient Egypt – assessment task – The afterlife

Key Elements: ideas, attitudes and beliefs This assessment tasks focuses on a single picture.   Pupils are asked how the image…

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women in ancient greece
Ancient Greece – assessment task – Life for women in Ancient Greece

This is a Year 6 task which focuses on Key Element 2a : characteristic features of life for men women…

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anglo saxons
Anglo-Saxons – assessment task – What were the main changes that took place in Anglo-Saxon England?

Focus: significance and change Using 3 images to help you, what were the most important changes that took place in…

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early islamic civilisation
Early Islamic Civilisation – assessment task – Why was life in 10th century Baghdad was so significant

Using two contrasting illustrations to help them, pupils have to explain why life in 10th century Baghdad was so significant….

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maya
Mayan civilisation – assessment task – What can we tell about Mayan society 1,000 years ago?

Focus skill/concept: Understanding characteristic period features and cultural diversity Using 3 images pupils are set the task to explain what…

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Boudicca
Roman Britain – assessment task – interpretations of Boudicca

Focus: interpretations Another Year 4 task in which pupils have to compare two unseen illustrations from books about Boudicca. Having…

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Roman Britain – assessment task – Why did the Romans invade?

Focus: causation Short written explanation or, for some, the completion of two speech bubbles. What did the Romans / Claudius…

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roman baths in bath
Roman Britain – assessment task – Roman legacy

Assessing pupils’ understanding of the legacy of the Roman Empire on life in Britain This task is designed to elicit…

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stone age to iron age scene
Stone Age to Iron Age – assessment task – changes from Stone Age to Iron Age

Focus: sequencing This Y3/4 task is highly visual and entails simple sequencing of unseen images followed by reason why changes…

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elizabeth I
Tudor Britain – assessment task – What can we learn about the way Elizabeth ruled the country from portraits

Focus: evaluation of sources Children work on an unseen portrait after the teacher has read out the caption which explains…

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victorian Britain
Victorian Britain – assessment task – How do we know this picture shows Victorian Britain?

Pupils are given artist’s impression of a typical Victorian scene which they have never seen before. They have to identify…

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vikings assessment
Vikings – assessment task – Depictions of the Vikings

Focus: historical interpretation After looking at similarity and difference between two depictions of the Vikings, pupils then offer reasons why…

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ww2 assessment
WW2 – Assessment task – How do we know that this picture shows England at the beginning of the Second World War?

Focus: characteristic features of life for men, women and children Once again based on a very detailed and colourful artists’…

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ha
Using story in your history teaching at KS2 – 10 top tips

I’ve just finished watching one of the more powerful of the Historical Association’s podcasts on the subject of story telling…

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top 10 history teaching
10 step guide to strengthening your history teaching

1. Ensure all topics are linked and logically sequenced At the planning stage make sure all topics are carefully linked…

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