Recently Matthew Purves , the Deputy Director for Schools, set out OFSTED latest thinking on deep dives in primary schools. He makes reference a number of times to what that means in history. Here are some of the highlights for you to ponder.
‘A deep dive…...
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Primary history opinion
Great new activity on Florence Nightingale- Dear Producer
One of the great challenges of teaching KS1 history is to avoid the pitfall of turning history into just stories from the past. Of course we want our youngest children to enjoy and remember the stories,... KS1 pupils’ work on Great Fire and Florence Nightingale assessed
You have told us that you need more help on assessment at KS1. So we have now gone beyond principles, suggestions, actual tasks and mark schemes to assessing actual pieces of work. You may already have... Going to the Seaside KS1 Assessing your children’s understanding
Just to let you know that we're piloting a new short diagnostic assessment task on going to the seaside 100 years ago, using the picture here as a stimulus. We've worked out a detailed mark scheme which links to national expectations. Subscribers can request a...
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New KS2 assessment task: Stone Age to Iron Age
As you know we have been working hard to create a complete set of simple, easy-to-run and easy-to-mark assessment tasks that can be used formatively as well as summatively. Our aim is to ensure that each topic has at least 2 of these tasks, covering...
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Remembering the sinking of the Titanic – a famous event for KS1
All the lessons for this topic have now been uploaded along with the Medium-term planner....
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New KS2 Tudor smart tasks
Later this week, we will be uploading the remaining three smart tasks that complete the series of five activities which help pupils to answer the question, Why did Henry VIII Break with Rome? along with the new medium term planner. Subscribers wishing to have a...
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2 fun facts for pupils studying Florence Nightingale at KS1 and 2 key learning points
Just thought these two fun facts might interest your pupils, building on infants' interest in animals rather than death rates from dysentery!
So the two facts are:
1. As a child, Florence already showed an interest in nursing by mending broken dolls and fitting splints to injured...
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Keeping up-to-date with your teaching of Victorian Britain at KS2
We often talk to children about the benefits that brought so many people into industrial towns in the first half of the nineteenth century. But we probably need to stress more, as a recent study has shown, that the rural peasants often had a better...
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Latest research on Stonehenge- a must for KS2 teachers
The results of one of the largest DNA studies yet conducted show that soon after Stonehenge was built, Britain was 'invaded' by new arrivals from the Continent.
Until about 4,500 years ago, Britain was inhabited by neolithic farmers who had spread from Spain and Brittany. They...
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Keeping your teaching of the Maya at KS2 up-to-date.
Key point 1
Historical opinion is changing all the time often in light of new evidence, literally. The latest technology using lasers has enabled archaeologists to discover up to 60,000 hidden Mayan buildings in present-day Guatemala. Unfortunately they can't be dated. Most of these are houses,...KS2 lessons on Britain at War soon to be uploaded
Great news for those of you who have asked about the remaining lessons linked to the medium term planner we published over the summer. All lessons are now going through the final edit, so are available to be emailed to you on request. They will...
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History in the primary curriculum: OFSTED’s view October 2017
How refreshing it was to listen to Amanda Spielman's analysis of what is wrong with the curriculum in English schools. In a nutshell: too little thinking about the curriculum and too much testing. This has been said, not just by people like me, for the...
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Brand new Ancient Greece planner for KS2
After months of refining, we will be launching our new Ancient Greece planner tomorrow. All six enquiry questions and home study will tie in all the outstanding lessons as well as adding a dozen new smart tasks. Most of these support KQ5 on the Greek...
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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 the time to carry out assessment in all those other subjects. And even if there...
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New Crime and Punishment: post-1066 thematic unit for KS2 history
Originally we had planned to create a detailed post-1066 thematic unit on Crime and punishment. We trailed the idea earlier this year but there were very few requests to look at the draft planner. So we shelved our plans and worked on other topics. But...
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New KS1 medium term planner on Moon Landing
A brand-new outstanding KS1 medium-term planner has now been uploaded on the Moon Landing topic. This contains all the key enquiry questions, well-pitched learning objectives as well as recommended learning activities. Three of the key lessons are now on the site with more to follow...
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New outstanding KS2 planner and lessons on Tudors
Landing soon is a brilliant KS2 medium term planner rated outstanding by OFSTED. You will find 6 enquiry-led key questions each exploring a separate historical concept in depth, and a home-study. All the existing outstanding lessons and smart tasks have now been tied into this...
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Suite of KS1 Amy Johnson lessons nearing completion thanks to Little Wings story
Just to let you KS1 teachers know that I'm a nearing the end of the production of 7 key question driven enquiries on Amy Johnson. Central to the lessons are great visual resources and new story titles. I am making extensive use of Faye Beerling's...
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New lessons on Wright brothers coming soon
Just putting finishing touches and clearing copyright for 5 great activities for Key questions 3 , 4 and 6 of the Wright brothers planner. These comprise : a prioritising diamond-4 task looking at the reasons why the Wright brothers were so successful; a hot-seating teacher-in...
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Ancient Greeks and memory: another legacy
Many people who try to remember large amounts of information probably don't realise it at the time but they are employing methods that go back over 2,500 years: Ancient Greek methods. I'm thinking, of course, of mnemonics. The word' remember', indeed, comes from the Greek...
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New theory on sinking of the Titanic
Those of you teaching the great KS1 topic on the sinking of the Titanic will be interested to know that the debate still goes. What we term a history mystery in the outstanding lesson, certainly is every bit a mystery. Now, 30 years of further...
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New KS1 lesson on Amy Johnson coming very soon
Those of you who have seen our excellent Amy Johnson planner and are keen to start resourcing all the lessons mentioned in the plans will,be pleased to know that the story-telling relay activity for key question 2 involving mime and props will be appearing on...
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Using simple ‘how plausible’ strategy for high-intensity thinking from KS2 to A level
Sometimes the simplest ideas have the most impact, probably because we don’t over-complicate. Looking for a way of getting students to think for themselves, rather than slavishly follow the ideas listed in the textbook, I started to use ‘how plausible?’ as a strategy. It has...
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What OFSTED says about primary history: 3 things you need to know
OFSTED's views on primary history are difficult to find. The last Lead Inspector for history offered these three opinions before he left OFSTED, never to be replaced.
A. Too often in primary schools, history is submerged within an integrated curriculum structure and, as a result, pupils’...
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Top 5 features of expert history teaching at KS1
Top five features of expert teaching at KS1
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- The key is challenge. Only by you setting high expectations will you be able to lift pupils’ aspirations so they don’t just settle for the best they think they can do.
Iron Age find-internationally important
Almost 2,000 years after being buried, the remarkably well-preserved remains of 150 skeletons and their personal possessions have been discovered in a small Yorkshire market town.
The remains of the burial ground that contained skeletons of people from the middle-iron age , known as the Arras...
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Excellent new resource on Maya at KS2
If you don't already know it, can I suggest you have a look at Dr Diane Davies site http://mayaarchaeologist.co.uk/
...
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... Latest News: Is the recent Must farm Bronze Age find in the Fens really another Pompeii?
The recent archaeological dig in the Fens has unearthed a series of wooden houses built on stilts and enclosed with an ornamental palisade in what has been described as the best-preserved Bronze Age site in Britain.
The discovery of a human skull, jewels and weapons has...
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Teaching Ancient Civilizations at KS2- Ancient Sumer
Sometime around 4000 B.C., ancient Sumerian culture emerged on a sun-scorched floodplain along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq. These clever Mesopotamians are best known for inventing cuneiform script—the world’s oldest extant writing system—but they also forged a vibrant religious...
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