Key stage 3 History teaching
Welcome to the Key Stage 3 section of the site. This offers a full and comprehensive source of good advice that should be seen as a form of ‘virtual adviser’. The issues I focus on mainly are those that preoccupy history teachers in 2020. High on the agenda is the need to sort out a clear rationale for our post-2014 KS3 curriculum . Plenty of advice, and examples of what other schools are doing, are given to set you thinking.
If we look beyond the curriculum you will find expert advice on the tricky issue of progression and the problematic one of assessment.In both cases you are given access to a clear and coherent alternative to the current obsession with now defunct National Curriculum Level Descriptions and their dubious sub-level cousins.
For those seeking an alternative to long over-prepared assessments that take ages to do (and to mark!), there is a coherent package of diagnostic assessments for you to consider. For each task there is a very thoughtful markscheme, examples of pupils’ work and even a commentary which enables you to compare with your own pupils’ work.
Many of you reading this will be subject leaders. You are well-catered for especially in the area of monitoring. You are given shrewd advice on classroom observation, feeding back to colleagues, carrying out pupil interviews and how to conduct an effective work scrutiny. When there is just so much to do when leading a history team, you will be grateful for the excellent advice on prioritisation and forward planning – advice that really works.
For those of you simply seeking inspiration for your own teaching, you will be excited to find that the teaching approaches section contains 100 great teaching ideas, all of which have been developed, tried and tested in successful history departments. On the key issues of enquiry, chronology, and the retention of interpretations, you will find expert advice and inspiring examples.
You will all certainly want to use the outstanding lessons section. There are high-quality lessons on all major topics-usually 6 o7 per topic. All these lessons have been validated by an experienced (65 OFSTED history inspections) and highly successful Local Authority history inspector/adviser who has seen history teaching at its best. The good ideas here become great ones when you use them and pass them on!!
What can you do at KS3 to make your history curriculum more representative?

Indian Mutiny/rebellion of 1857

- How to be thoughtful and discriminating when selecting evidence that is relevant to answering two different questions on the same topic.
- How to explore the different aspects of historical explanations,...
British Empire – How can we infer so much about the empire from a study of just one map and the person who created it?

- Students understand how the Empire was...
Richard I: Lionheart or loser should we keep his statue – SMART TASK

Rotten apple or …. How should we portray Dyer’s motivation in the Amritsar massacre?

How should Germany be treated at the Paris peace conference? KS3 or KS4 task

This short but engaging task precedes any detailed analysis of the terms of the treaty itself. It has four distinct elements: prediction; analysis of a rarely seen German poster; attaching significance; and refining ideas based on most recent scholarship.
Step 1
Firstly, students have to...
So you think your pupils know about Witchcraft in early modern Britain.

What can we tell about the Ancient Greeks from a study of their Olympics? KQ5 part 1

We thought we would offer you a range of different cameos showing how the history of the Olympics could be imaginatively integrated into your current teaching.
The teaching activities below have all be tried and tested in schools and have been judged outstanding by...
Teaching the British Empire KS3

How far did life really change when William the Conqueror became king after the Battle of Hastings? SMART TASK KS3

Starter
In small groups of three pupils...How well do these cartoons cover the causes of World War One?

Court of King Cholera: Where am I in the picture?

Puzzle corner 3: the strange case of the missing slave

Why were so many witches hanged in the 16th and 17th centuries?

Can we beat the textbook explanation?
The inspiration for this lesson came from the talented history department at Court Moor school and in particular the outstanding history subject leader Claire Conley-Harper. Originally it was a short thinking skills activity on raising historical questions which then grew...How ‘Bloody’ was Mary Tudor?

Why did sons kill fathers in the English Civil War? The Verneys enquiry

Parchment in the flames – the World Turned Upside Down

Did the Great Fire really end the Great Plague of 1665?

Why did Peasant unrest boil over into revolt in 1381?

Reasons for the Peasants' Revolt
This lesson uses the analogy of raising the political temperature, and then boiling over, to explain the Peasants' Revolt. Pupils construct their own living graphs to build up their own temperature charts. Why, if life was so harsh for medieval peasants...Gifted and talented in history at Key Stage 3

Starter activity on religious changes in the reign of Edward VI. SMART TASK KS3

A quick small group starter task in which pupils collaborate to show what meaning they can make from an image taken from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. They use the PowerPoint jig-sawed slides to feedback, while you use the notes provided to take pupils from...
Teaching KS3 History: Medieval Britain

How significant was Magna Carta? SMART TASK KS3

Learning at Key Stage 3

Independence History at KS3 and GCSE

Independent Enquirers
Learners can develop as independent enquirers when they are provided with opportunities in history to:- explore for themselves events, issues or problems from different perspectives and consider the influence of circumstances, beliefs and feelings on decisions
- make personal judgements about the relevance and value...
View of learners in history at Key Stage 3

Roles for Learners: Key Stage 3

In addition to thinking of imaginative and motivating activities for our lessons, it is often helpful to think about the roles give to pupils. Dorothy Heathcotes' excellent work on the Mantle of the Expert convinced me that pupils often do their best work when...
20 Imaginative products in history at Key Stage 3

The learning process at Key Stage 3

Far from being 'just theory', understanding how children learn in history underpins all the decisions we make in our classrooms. It informs planning, differentiation, assessment, views on progression and, above all, what makes pupils want to learn. With the National Strategy now devoting considerable...
The Empire strikes back! SMART TASK KS3

Smart Task Puzzle Corner – Why did so many infants die when the death rate was falling?

This short activity works best as a starter or plenary and is particularly effective in encouraging able...
Hitler’s propaganda: the cult of leader. Reading internal clues. KS3 & 4 Smart Task

Why did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?

If 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 of being used with minimal...Great starter on interpretations of Henry VIII- Key question 1 part 2

How well do your pupils know Medieval Britain? A short diagnostic smart task called truth detector

Castle design. Would I lie to you? Fun smart task

Was there really a Blitz spirit? Killer evidence. Smart Task

Having lost his parliament, then his throne, why did Charles I have to lose his head?

Market place: Why I didn’t oppose Hitler.

Teaching historical significance at Key Stage 3

Cromwell a reputation deserved. KS3 Smart Task

Industrial Britain KS3 Smart Task on the changes brought about by industrialisation

Early Modern Britain 1500-1750 Smart Task: Editor’s Pencil

Which modern Olympic Games am I? Short KS3 Smart Task

Industrial Revolution KS3 Smart Task: The Mystery of the Blackburn Cemetery

KS3 & 4 The Causes of World War One: The Blame Game

’50’ imaginative learning activities for history at Key Stage 3

Fit for purpose teaching Strategies at Key Stage 3

Explaining why there were so many casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. SMART TASK
