Keystage History Blog – updates from Neil
Latest posts
Teaching Olympic games in 2024
Are you planning to teach about the Olympic games which are coming to Paris in July 2024? If so you…
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Looking for a change of Significant person at KS1 ? The Taylor Swift of her time – April 2024
You might be interested in a brand-new planner and lessons on Amelia Earhart which is now being uploaded. Why is…
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Teaching KS1 pupils to question the ‘FACTS’ about Great Fire; focus on number of deaths
Take the simple assertion (to found in in most books pupils will come across), that only 6 deaths resulted from…
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The state of primary history 25 years on
One of the drawbacks of being a historian is you just can’t help yourself when it comes to looking at…
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Take a new look at assessment in history in your school.
Now is the perfect time to get your assessment system for history in better shape. If colleagues know the criteria…
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The Blitz 80 years on
On the night of 14 November 1940, 80 years ago, one of the most infamous aerial attacks of all time…
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What can you do at KS3 to make your history curriculum more representative?
In a recent article for the Historical Association ( HA news- Autumn 2020) Jake Subryan Richards offers his advice: ”…
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Changes for the 2021 GCSE History examination announced by AQA today
AQA GCSE History (8145) Students entering for GCSE History exams next summer will have a choice of studies with one…
Read MorePost-1066 thematic unit for KS2; Beyond Face Value is now complete- full planner ready . Lessons launched soon
Those of you who have patiently waited for us to clear the copyright for the post-1066 thematic unit linking the…
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What is primary history? Have a look at this ‘at a glance’ diagram which encapsulates the essence of the subject
The accompanying diagram attempts to display all the main elements of developing your pupils’ historical understanding, in one place. You’ll…
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Spectacular Bronze Age finds
Article: BBC Detectorist ‘shaking with happiness’ after Bronze Age find Among the items found this week in Peebles in Scotland…
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Linking your early civilizations at KS2
There is a real and present danger in KS2 of failing to make links between topics. If we are not…
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Wizards and scientists:changing views of Stonehenge. History as interpretations and a constant conversation between past and present
One of the harder parts of teaching history at Ks2 is to explain to pupils that history is a construct,…
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Using fiction in KS2 history. What can we read with our pupils during our Ancient Egypt topic?
For many years I have been advocating the use of fiction at KS2 to help pupils to realise the importance…
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Banality of OFSTED’s KS1 judgements in history. They don’t know what they are talking about. Stick to your guns.
Sometimes you just have to say it. What on earth do they expect? reading through a number of OFSTED reports…
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Is this another find to help us understand Stonehenge?
Yesterday’s more interesting news centred on a newly-published report on the finds at Durrington Wells on Salisbury Plain. As the…
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Thinking about evidence at KS2. How do we know what happened in Saxons times?
Where does our knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons come from? It is important that we ask the recurring question “How do…
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The importance of getting your key questions right in your KS2 history planning
Scanning through a number of KS2 history websites recently, I realised just how narrow a view of history was being…
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How much do you need to talk about chronology when studying Ancient Egypt?
This is a question that has concerned many primary teachers for a long time. I have sat in the back…
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Interesting resources on Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole
Great resource on Mary Seacole https://www.mylearning.org/stories/mary-seacole/199? There are three games and an interactive glossary, each one narrated by Mary Seacole. The…
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Improving diversity in your KS2 history curriculum
Amid the current state of heightened racial tension across Britain and the USA, I thought it might be a good…
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Getting your enquiry questions right for your history topics at KS1
Getting your enquiry questions right at KS1 On the Historical Association website is a scheme of work on George Stephenson…
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What are deep dive OFSTED reports saying about history within the EIF 2019 Framework
I thought I would publish all the OFSTED deep dive reports I can find which illuminate what schools should be…
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What inspectors report on in deep dive history inspections: a recent example with my commentary from 2020
What the inspectors said Commentary Pupils in your school thoroughly enjoy learning history. They like the enquiry-based approach you…
Read MoreMeeting OFSTED’s criteria for a good history curriculum at KS1 and 2 during extended transition period
Now that schools have an extra year’s grace from OFSTED to refine their curriculum that is being worked on, it…
Read MoreThinking historically: ‘learning to’..as well as ‘learning about’
While so many of you are locked down, it seems a good time to remind you of the key features…
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Improving history in your primary school: a short cameo of a success story
So what does effective leadership of primary history look like? A case study When Lara took over as history subject…
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Florence Nightingale and her legacy – 200 years since her birth, on 12 May 1820
Historians have praised Florence Nightingale on the 200th anniversary of her birth, and said her legacy has “never been more…
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Using quadrants to answers exam questions at GCSE and A level
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. Faced with an exam question such as How far do you agree with…
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GCSE history: Answering the question set , not the one they would prefer to answer.
Many of you teaching GCSE will be familiar with the issue. Your students answer the question they think the examiner…
Read MoreHistorical Association survey of secondary history provision 2019- few surprises and some disappointing statistics
Last week saw the publication of the annual survey into secondary history produced by the Historical Association. Obviously reflecting the…
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Key ideas in primary history
When we are teaching 11 subjects it is often difficult to catch the essence of each. If we’re not careful…
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Great learning activity: Prove it! See examples for Scott of the Antarctic, Man on the Moon, Tudor theatre, Grace Darling, Louis Braille
One of the most effective learning activities which you will find in a small number of the outstanding lessons is…
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Remembering VE Day
In these difficult times when schools are not in session it will not be possible to commemorate the ending of…
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Creating your own timelines at KS2: one school’s recent find.
Charley Chanter of HertfordHeath primary school has just brought this Timeline making package to my attention He wrote:.I have been…
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At last a way forward with KS2 assessment for history that will work for my school
Even though we will have had the National Curriculum for history ( albeit in different guises) for nearly 30 years,…
Read MoreWe learn by being excited not by being told; abiding principle of Keystage history
I get a lot of enquiries about Keystage history, largely from teachers who want to know what to expect from…
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Did you know there were over 1000 Roman sites in England and Wales?
The numerous discoveries of Roman finds, often by private metal detectors, have revealed more than 1,000 Roman sites in England…
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Teaching about Roman villas at KS2- some new finds in Gloucestershire. Should the housing development now go ahead – arguments for and against?
Those of you teaching about Roman villas at KS2, maybe even using the outstanding lesson on this website, Is this…
Read MoreOFSTED using frighteningly slender evidence to judge history at KS1 and 2
According to today’s Guradian report an eight-year-old boy was meeting the Ofsted inspector for the first time. “What do you remember…
Read MoreWhat would OFSTED say about history in your school? What needs to improve? A sample recent report gives an insight
After identifying a number of positive features of the history curriculum and history teaching the OFSTED inspector carrying out a…
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Don’t led OFSTED’s unrealistic expectations of you grind you down until they’ve given you the detailed training guidance help you need and deserve.
So you didn’t study history yourself beyond the age of 14, you have been leading the subject for just two…
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OFSTED and assessment of primary history in the EIF for 2019
OFSTED and assessment in primary history One of the features of deep dive subject inspections is that the two hardest…
Read MoreWhat does OFSTED really think about 2 year KS3 history courses?
More than half of schools now run lengthened Key Stage 4 history courses, effectively shortening Key Stage 3 to cater…
Read MoreOFSTED’s report on teaching of Toys-outstanding lesson
When the inspector entered, the pupils were sitting on the carpet around the teacher. She was gently exploring whether they…
Read MoreWhat does INTENT actually mean for history in the new OFSTED Framework for 2019? Building blocks and the Big Picture
Nothing could be simpler: intent is everything up to the point at which teaching happens in the classroom. It is…
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Teaching the Iron Age at KS2: are you teaching the right things?
In a recent article in Primary History by Karen Doull of the Historical Association adumbrated a list of the ‘Ten…
Read More5 things primary history subject leaders should be doing next term
It obviously makes no sense to ordain a calendar of must-do tasks that all primary history leaders should be following….
Read MoreTime to drop insanity of a 3 year GCSE history course
Of all the phases of history education pupils now go through, KS4 is by far the least appealing. So why…
Read MoreWhat do the new 2019 OFSTED Framework reports say about history in primary schools?
Even though we are only a month into term, OFSTED has been busy publishing its reports from the second week…
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