Keystage history

Teaching chronology at Key Stage 1

Mention the teaching of chronology to most infant teachers and their eyes glaze over. Their experience is that it is like picking up mercury with a fork. One minute the…

‘100’ great ideas for teaching history at KS1

At present there are nearly 80 ideas arranged in alphabetical order. You will see that a brief description is offered, kept brief just as a reminder. It is useful if…

What makes an outstanding lesson in history at KS1?

Below is a list of the typical characteristics of excellent lessons. Lists can only help up to a point though. They must be read alongside the section on the teaching…

The teaching process in history at KS1

The approach offered on this site is only one of many you might know, or even use. Heaven forbid that teaching should ever be done to formula, but in my…

Personal & Family: Ourselves Key Stage 1

It is not always easy knowing what history to teach very young infants. There are three main issues. How do you avoid covering aspects of the pupils’ own lives that…

Teaching Myself – Muddled Bags

As you would expect, it is far better to start with the children themselves and images of them growing up, before moving on to look at two or more generations,…

Teaching Nursery Rhymes to Key Stage 1

This topic is extremely well suited to children in Year R as part of the Foundation stage curriculum. Not only does it help children to grasp the difference between past…

Using minute papers to monitor student progress in GCSE and A level history lessons.

Minute papers are small doubled-sided A5 sheets, blank other than the pre-printed heading which is always in the form of a perplexing key question. It is this question that drives…

When Italy signed two peace treaties with Abyssinia just 7 years before, why then did Mussolini invade in 1935? Explanation builder

Students are given a short answer to this question that appeared as an answer on the Student Room website. It was not worth 9 marks. Students have to work out…

What can the Ancient Greeks tell us about leading history at KS2?

In these days of accountability and showing that we are doing what is required, there is a temptation for subject leaders to overplan. In a well-meaning attempt to make life…

How the boards differ in their approach to the historic environment

AQA The historic environment is 10% of the overall course which equates to approximately 12 hours out of 120 guided learning hours. Students will be examined on a specific site in…

Assessing students’ understanding of the historic environment in the new GCSE history courses

As we await the verdict of OFQUAL on the draft submissions for the new 2016 GCSE history courses, one of the more interesting outcomes will be that relating to the…

Approach to teaching Significant Societies at Key Stage 3

As part of the current curriculum schools are required to teach at least one significant issue or society. Several options are offered by the DfE but you are not bound…

Imaginative and effective teaching strategies for A2 and AS history

Finding high-quality advice on teaching A2 and AS history is a difficult and time-consuming job. With so much post-16 work dominated by exam boards and textbooks, there is precious little…

Teaching local history at Key Stage 3

What does it mean by local? The current curriculum makes it mandatory to include a local history study in your KS3 history curriculum. For example: a depth study linked to…

Mary Seacole – How should we remember her?

This lesson is the second featuring Mary Seacole. In the first her role was compared with Florence Nightingale’s. The focus now shifts to asking two key questions: which was Mary…

Was Hitler totally responsible for the Second World War?

This smart task looks deceptively simple, and should serve as a useful introduction, leading on to some sophisticated analysis exploring recent historiography. The main focus for this subsequent study hinges…

Why study the Mughal Empire at Key Stage 3?

Reasons for studying this period above the other tempting options are: The Mughal Empire was the greatest of the Muslim empires of the early modern period. The Mughal Emperor ruled…

AS/A2 SMART TASK Threats to Henry VII, a living graph

Students create event cards for homework by way of preparation for creating a multi strand living graph showing the degree of threat to Henry VII from different quarters and how…

If the Bloody Code made so many offences punishable by death, why were so few criminals hanged? SMART TASK

Fun lesson in which small groups have to predict punishments meted out for specific crimes in 1786 using original documents and then see if they were correct. They then try…

50 imaginative learning activities to use in history at Key Stage 2

Currently these top 50 imaginative ideas are just listed in alphabetical order with a brief description of each, cross-referenced to an Outstanding Lesson in which the strategy is used. If…

Views of learners on history at Key Stage 1

There has been very little published research on the views of infants on their history work. I think we might be able to predict that most pupils would be positive…

The Marshall Plan: How should we interpret it? Just how philanthropic was it?

The activities in this very varied lesson ask students to raise questions, place sources on a continuum, add analysis to a short descriptive account and quickly tweet a caption to…

AS/A2 SMART TASK Did the ending of the Second World War make the Cold War inevitable?

In order for students to form their own view on this challenging question they read, discuss, sort and then place on a spectrum a number of influence cards enabling them…

How much Irish history do your pupils learn?

Lise Hand the Times columnist recently described a visit to see the film Michael Collins with her well-educated and well-known friend. During the scene where the Black and Tans open…

Photo of Scott’s disconsolate team at South Pole up for sale

Pupils have often wondered how a photograph could possibly be taken showing all five of Scott’s team in shot, given the fact that there was no-one else in the team…

French Revolution-what do the 1793 playing cards tell us?

Interesting new lesson on using 12 colourful playing cards to encourage students to work out what mattered most to the revolutionaries in 1793. Having had the analysis of one card…

Why did the Romans spend so much time building roads? KS2 short task

From Diamond 4 to ‘Roving Mike’ and kids’ wiki. This simple short task gives groups of pupils, 3 per group, a cut-up set of the 6 diamond-shaped cause cards, provided…

How will your school commemorate the end of World War One?

This short advice sheet invites schools to consider how they will commemorate the centenary of armistice day and provides an illustrated PowerPoint presentation offering 8 attractive ideas to set you…

Hitler’s propaganda: the cult of leader. Reading internal clues. KS3 & 4 Smart Task

The aim of this short task is to encourage students to look really closely at images for what is there, not what they think should be there. Students are asked…

Excellent animation of how Stonehenge was built

Great English Heritage showing how Stonehenge was built WATCH: The brilliance of our prehistoric ancestors and the creation of @EH_Stonehenge https://t.co/cfV3EiRJBx #Ingenious pic.twitter.com/uK7ISvigBS — English Heritage (@EnglishHeritage) August 9, 2017

As a history subject leader, do you hold your colleagues to account?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that it not good for one’s health to read OFSTED reports in the summer when schools are on holiday. But sometimes it pays to…

Assessment in history at KS2- What OFSTED is looking for

Mention the words ‘assessment in foundation subjects’ and you’re likely to be met with a frosty response. ‘Its hard enough in English and mathematics, how on earth will we find…

Amy Johnson – KQ1 – Why do you think Amy Johnson was famous?

With the help of the slow reveal of the clues in carefully arranged order, pupils build their knowledge of Amy Johnson’s significance and write their own brief caption to accompany…

Amy Johnson – KQ2 – How did Amy the secretary end up being the first woman to fly to Australia?

This short, fun activity using mime and props, tells the story of Amy Johnson’s first flight to Australia in a way that children will never forget. Each of the 8…

Amy Johnson – KQ3 – Why was flying to Australia so difficult for Amy Johnson?

Having heard the story of Amy Johnson’s life, pupils are now asked to focus their attention on explaining why it was such a difficult feat for Amy to achieve at…

Amy Johnson – KQ4 – How did people react to Amy Johnson’s famous flight?

How did people react to Amy at the time, and how do we know? Children generate adjectives to describe Amy’s arrival in Australia using a photograph and short newspaper extracts…

Amy Johnson – KQ5 – How did things change for Amy Johnson after her famous flight?

Was Amy really successful for the rest of her life? A Living graph Smart Task KQ5 The focus here is on the ups and downs of Amy’s life, in the…

Amy Johnson – KQ6 – How can we solve the mystery of what happened to Amy Johnson?

This enduring mystery has puzzled historians for over 75 years. New evidence has just come to light which makes this an ideal opportunity for pupils to explore reasons for themselves….

KS1 Star Lesson on The Great Fire

Why did the Great Fire of 1666 burn down so many more houses than other fires in London at that time? In this exceptional lesson, pupils adopt the role of…

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…

GCSE History of medicine: What was the most important medical advance in the last 200 years

Recently a sample of 11,000 doctors was asked to name the most important medical advance in the last 200 years.The results make interesting reading. What an cracking activity it would…

Flipping the GCSE history question: stopping students answering the questions that wasn’t set! An example from Crime and Punishment using zones of significance

We all know students who have answered the question that hoped would appear on the question, regardless of the actual wording of the one set. I think I have a…

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Written by Neil Thompson