Outstanding Lessons and smart tasks>
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…
Read MoreKeeping 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…
Read MoreKeeping 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…
Read MoreKeeping 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…
Read MoreKeeping 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…
Read MoreKeeping 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…
Read MoreKeeping 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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreBritain 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreTop 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…
Read MoreAnglo-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…
Read MoreTudor Britain knowledge organiser – KS2
You are learning about the Tudors as it was a period of history that helped to shape the Britain we…
Read MoreCrime and punishment – assessment task
This task is provisional and adopts a different approach to the assessment task on the site you might have tried…
Read MoreStone 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…
Read MoreAncient 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…
Read MoreAncient 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…
Read MoreAnglo-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…
Read MoreEarly 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….
Read MoreMayan 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…
Read MoreRoman 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…
Read MoreRoman 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…
Read MoreRoman 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…
Read MoreStone 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…
Read MoreTudor 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…
Read MoreVictorian 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…
Read MoreVikings – 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…
Read MoreWW2 – 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’…
Read MoreVikings – end of unit quiz – KS2
You’ve learned all about the amazing Viking world – from their brave voyages across the seas to their fascinating way…
Read MoreStrengths and weaknesses of 10 different approaches to local history at KS1 and 2
1. A general history of the community Advantages Can build a sense of place enhancing pupils’ awareness of how the…
Read MoreAncient Egypt – end of unit quiz
Congratulations on completing your unit on Ancient Egypt! Now that you’ve explored this incredible ancient civilization, it’s time to put…
Read MoreEarly Islamic civilisation knowledge organiser – KS2
You are studying this topic so that you realise that a thousand years ago Baghdad was the largest city in…
Read MoreKeeping your teaching of Stonehenge up-to-date
Just when you thought you knew all there was to teach about Stonehenge suddenly a major discovery turns much of…
Read MoreAncient Egypt – SMART task – Puzzle corner: Mystery of the pyramids in the desert
This thinking skills task has been designed to encourage pupils to work out plausible answers to the puzzling question, one…
Read MoreThe mystery of why the pyramids were built in the desert is finally solved
Many of you teaching Ancient Egypt in depth as part of a broader topic on ancient civilizations will , no…
Read MoreTeaching Olympic games in 2024
Are you planning to teach about the Olympic games which are coming to Paris in July 2024? If so you…
Read MoreBritain during the Second World War knowledge organiser – KS2
In this topic you will learn why Britain went to war and was threatened with invasion by Hitler’s Germany during…
Read MoreShang dynasty knowledge organiser – KS2
You are studying the Shang dynasty because it was the first Chinese civilization in ancient times and one for which…
Read MoreShang 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…
Read MoreShang 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,…
Read MoreShang 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…
Read MoreShang 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…
Read MoreShang dynasty – KQ5 – What was distinctive about the Shang people’s beliefs?
Having used a fast-paced Information Run activity to acquire the key points about Shang religion pupils are set the task…
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