Primary programme

The HA Conference is a unique opportunity to join the history education community on a weekend of supportive and subject-specific professional learning and development. In the Primary pathway you can attend workshops from primary history specialists and fellow teachers from EYFS to Key Stage 2, exploring new ideas and approaches to history teaching, curriculum development, and much more. 

Where a session has been identified by the presenter(s) as suitable for multiple key stages, particular areas of focus are indicated in bold.

So whose story is it anyway?

Andrew Wrenn
Consultant, York
Donald Campbell
The Forgotten Generations

This practical workshop will explore some of the advantages and limitations of using storytelling and oral history in the primary history classroom for teaching the same content. It will compare the use of a written story of an individual’s life with putting questions to a real person. In this case, the person is Donald Campbell, a Black RAF veteran of the Windrush Generation, whose life and career span the transformation from Empire to Commonwealth, the arrival of the Windrush Generation and the emergence of modern Black British identity since 1945. Those attending will be able to participate in interviewing Donald as if they were pupils. The workshop supports National Curriculum requirements to teach about significant individuals at Key Stage 1 and to teach content beyond 1066 at Key Stage 2.

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will have compared and contrasted the use of storytelling with interviewing at Key Stages 1 and 2.
  • Delegates will have practised putting questions to an eyewitness.

Friday, Session 1: 10:45–11:45

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | classroom teacher, history subject leader

Scribes, bricklayers, priestesses and kings: why study Mesopotamia at Key Stage 2?

Christine Counsell 
Consultant, Norfolk

From the world’s first city to the world’s first known library, Mesopotamia’s 3,500 years of civilisation can be enthralling for seven- to 11-year-olds, while supplying vital reference points in Middle Eastern history that assist access to later topics. Full of puzzles about how writing, religion, royal administration and built environments evolved, it also forms a gateway to understanding the discipline of history. But which stories and puzzles to choose? How can these be woven coherently? How do we make time to give pupils a ‘sense of place’ using all the magic of worldbuilding? This session will build your knowledge of Mesopotamia and offer planning options for routes through its riches.

Learning outcomes:

  • This session will expand teachers’ knowledge of Mesopotamia by making connections between sample stories, descriptions, artefacts and archaeological puzzles.
  • The session will provide a rationale for teaching Mesopotamia at Key Stage 2, including its opportunities for strengthening the disciplinary dimension.

Friday, Session 1: 10:45–11:45 

Suitable for: Key Stage 2 | classroom teacher, trainee teacher, early career teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

What did the carnelian bead see? Exploring the complexity of the Viking world through one object

Julia Huber
Woodmansterne School, London 

Too often, the Vikings are still introduced as simple raiders and invaders. This session reframes that story through a single, extraordinary artefact – a carnelian bead made in India and buried centuries later in Viking Repton. Inspired by Frankopan’s Silk Roads and Jarman’s River Kings, the enquiry moves beyond Viking stereotypes, bringing historians and archaeologists into the classroom to reveal the Vikings’ global connections. Using one object as a narrative thread, pupils explore evidence, argument and trade across continents – a powerful hook for diverse classrooms. As a final outcome, students write from the bead’s perspective, tracing its remarkable journey across the ancient world.

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will learn practical ways in which to use a single object to drive historical enquiry.
  • We will move beyond the ‘raiders and invaders’ narrative to reveal a more complex Viking world.
  • The session will use global perspectives and archaeology to make history more inclusive and engaging.
  • Delegates will develop oracy and disciplinary writing through a purposeful final outcome. 

Friday, Session 2: 12:00–13:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, early career teacher 

So how is this all connected? Using substantive concepts to weave learning across the curriculum

Karin Doull 
Consultant, London 

Ofsted’s subject report highlights the need to move beyond mistaking ‘features of lessons, such as regular quizzes, for evidence that pupils were being supported to develop richer and more secure knowledge’ (Ofsted, 2023). To promote ‘rich connected knowledge’, schools need to plan substantive and disciplinary elements that would constitute learning across the curriculum. This workshop will consider how to identify stopping points that will allow children to review learning, in order to recognise valid links and transition points between periods and themes. It will consider the importance of the substantive concepts and show how these can be used alongside chronology and disciplinary concepts to build rich connected learning. It will model some practical examples to demonstrate how to plan and develop ideas and resources that will open children’s eyes to the interconnected nature of the past.  

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will increase their understanding of substantive concepts. 
  • Delegates will learn strategies to promote effective use in planning learning journeys. 

Friday, Session 2: 12:00–13:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | history subject leader, classroom teacher, teacher educator/mentor, early career teacher, trainee teacher 

Using the History Quality Mark experience to evaluate and improve the standards of history

Katie Power
Vernon Primary School, Poynton 

This session will focus on a school’s journey to receiving the Gold Quality Mark award. We will discuss the process as a whole, focusing on the initial audit and findings and relating this to current Ofsted guidance and the context of the school. We will then look at what was implemented as a result of the findings and why. The session will also look at the finished portfolio and how the assessors support with further recommendations. Participants will be offered the opportunity to discuss their own history provision, and seek advice from the session leader and other participants on how their school could achieve the Gold standard for the History Quality Mark.  

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will come away from the session feeling knowledgeable about the Quality Mark process after hearing first-hand from a subject leader.
  • Delegates will be able to take away practical ideas to support their own application.  

Friday, lunchtime fringe: 13:10–13:50 

Suitable for: Early Years, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | history subject leader, trainee teacher, early career teacher, classroom teacher, senior leader 

Using historical fiction meaningfully within teaching sequences from EYFS to Year 6

Steven Kenyon
Lancashire County Council, Preston 

‘Reading and stories should be at the centre of school history.’ (Tim Jenner, history national lead/HMI) As a judge for the Historical Association’s Young Quills competition for the last six years, Steven has read hundreds of award-winning historical fiction titles. During the session, Steven will demonstrate how to weave texts meaningfully into history teaching sequences, placing quality texts at the heart of history. Stories can help children to develop understanding of what life might have been like in certain periods and places. Children can feel like they are walking the streets of ninth-century Baghdad or rushing against time to save a friend from the Great Fire of London.  

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will leave the session with a variety of inspiring ideas and examples of award-winning historical fiction being used within primary history units. 
  • Delegates will come away with a comprehensive list of quality texts for use across the history curriculum. 

Friday, Session 3: 14:00–15:00 

Suitable for: Early Years, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | history subject leader, trainee teacher, early career teacher, classroom teacher, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

Securing historical thinking at Key Stage 2 to prepare for Key Stage 3

Rachel Bruce
St Barnabas CE Primary School, York
Judy Clarke
Consultant, Richmond  

This session looks at the aims and objectives of the National Curriculum and how they can be delivered and embedded in the primary classroom to inspire pupils’ curiosity, helping them to know more about the past through an understanding of historical disciplinary skills and enquiry strategies in preparation for Key Stage 3. We will focus on the value of creative task design, highlighting the importance of oracy and discussing historical concepts and methods of historical enquiry, in order to secure an aspirational and inclusive primary classroom. 

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will have a bank of practical ideas and strategies that can be used in the primary classroom, which focus on developing apprentice historians who have an understanding of historical disciplinary skills in preparation for Key Stage 3.

Friday, Session 3: 14:00–15:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | classroom teacher, early career teacher, trainee teacher, history subject leader 

How one plant can change the world: what can gardens, parks and plants tell us about history?

Susie Townsend
University of Roehampton 

And now for something completely different... From biopiracy to meditation, what can plants and gardens reveal about history? As long as there have been settlements, there have been gardens. What do they tell us about our changing beliefs and ideas? This is an interactive workshop, focused on a theme beyond 1066, which will hopefully include something for everyone: high drama, continuity and change, national identity, fascinating individuals and even a bit of garden planning… It will also help children to recognise the interconnection between people and plants, along with the human impact on the environment. Get your trowels at the ready! 

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will take away interactive activities for the classroom.  
  • Delegates will consider links to sustainability. 
  • We will consider issues from both a national and an international perspective.
  • Delegates will leave with classroom resources and ideas on cross-curricular links. 

Friday, Session 4: 15:15–16:15 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, teacher educator/mentor, early career teacher, trainee teacher, senior leader 

Rethinking history: how to make history more inclusive for all learners

Lorna Spencer
Chellow Heights Special School, Bradford 

Currently, there are more children with more complex needs in mainstream classrooms. How can we make history more accessible for all learners? This session reimagines the primary history curriculum by integrating sensory approaches and storytelling to deepen pupils’ understanding of substantive knowledge. Through the multisensory power of narrative, teachers can create immersive historical experiences that not only engage learners but also establish equitable curriculum starting points for all. This session will also provide practical strategies to enhance learning opportunities, through provision and interactive learning opportunities.  

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will have a deeper understanding of a variety of approaches to make primary history more inclusive.  
  • Delegates will have strategies that can be used to support all children, but in particular those with more complex needs.

Friday, Session 4: 15:15–16:15 

Suitable for: Early Years, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | classroom teacher, trainee teacher, early career teacher, history subject leader 

Dawson Lecture

History of all for all: why we all need to step up if we are ever to achieve this ambition and why politicians need to let us get on with it

Michael Maddison
HA Deputy President

In the Dawson Lecture for 2026, Michael will reflect on the HA’s strategic vision: history of all for all. He will argue that it is imperative for the history community – teaching and non-teaching – to step up now if we are to get anywhere near to achieving this ambition. Michael will draw upon his wide range of experiences from the over 50 years in which he has been involved in history education, as a teacher, senior leader, examiner, inspector and now consultant. He will argue that understanding the past helps us to understand what makes us human, and that teaching history is vital if we are to build a better world. He will also reflect on some of the barriers that still stand in our way, not least the frequent and often unhelpful interventions by politicians. Overall, though, this will be about success, about being pragmatic and about being optimistic, and the whole lecture will be illuminated by stories of what this inspector saw and what he wished he hadn’t seen!

Friday: 16:45–17:30

Saturday Sessions

Creating opportunities for oracy in your Key Stage 1 and Early Years history lessons

Sue Temple
University of Cumbria, Carlisle 

In this workshop, we will consider the justifications for including more oracy in our history lessons and we will explore a range of activities and contexts suitable for developing speaking and listening for younger children. These activities will also be suitable for SEND and EAL learners. Speaking and listening/oracy has rather fallen off our radars more recently, but is likely to be a focus in curriculum reviews, so this is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the value of these activities and consider where and how we can include them in busy classrooms. 

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will know and understand the justifications for including oracy in our history lessons (to share with stakeholders, etc.). 
  • Delegates will be able to see where and how these activities could be included in typical Key Stage 1 history topics (e.g. significant individuals, Great Fire of London, etc.). 
  • Delegates will gain confidence in including oracy activities in history lessons. 

Saturday, Session 1: 11:00–12:00 

Suitable for: Early Years, Key Stage 1 | classroom teacher, history subject leader 

Connecting past and place: A grassroots approach to local history in schools

Matthew Harper-Duffy
Local History Hub, Brighton 

This session explores how grassroots, teacher-led approaches can make local history a vibrant part of the primary curriculum. Focusing on practical, manageable strategies, it highlights the power of connecting schools with local museums, archives, heritage sites and community groups. By sharing examples of teacher-driven projects, the session will show how local history can build belonging and pride, while strengthening networks beyond the classroom, ensuring that history education is both collaborative and deeply rooted in place. 

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will understand how grassroots, teacher-led practice can embed local history meaningfully in the curriculum. 
  • Delegates will explore practical ways in which to build networks with museums, archives, heritage sites and community groups. 
  • Delegates will gain strategies for collaboration that share resources, reduce workload and sustain local history teaching. 
  • Participants will take away inclusive, low-cost project ideas that foster belonging and pride by linking classroom learning with wider community stories and expertise. 

Saturday, Session 1: 11:00–12:00 

Suitable for: Early Years, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

Windrush: making a world of difference

Chris Trevor
Consultant, Northwich 

Chris will share books and resources for the primary classroom, to support teachers in presenting stories from the Windrush Generation. In line with recent Ofsted calls for teachers to prioritise daily story time and oracy, we will look at developing children's ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others, through speaking, listening and communication. Through the shared stories and interactive tasks, using a variety of provided sources, teachers will have the means with which to help children to develop their knowledge of Windrush, appreciating and respecting the differences, while celebrating what we have in common and the contributions made by the Windrush Generation, as part of a school’s personal development programme.

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will receive recommendations and suggestions for stories and sources to use in the classroom for both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, focusing on one significant individual. 
  • Participants will come home with a cross-curricular scheme of work after the session. 

Saturday, Session 2: 12:15–13:15 

Suitable for: Early Years, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor, early career teacher, trainee teacher 

Connecting the Key Stage 2 curriculum: concepts, contexts and curiosities

Glenn Carter
Ingleby Mill Primary School, Stockton-on-Tees 

Learn how to make meaningful connections across the Key Stage 2 curriculum through a variety of examples that can be implemented instantly. We will look at how to link different substantive and disciplinary concepts and how different contexts can help to explain and clarify other areas of historical learning, along with interesting curiosities that can be used to springboard discussions and connections.

Learning outcomes: 

  • Delegates will learn how to make meaningful connections across Key Stage 2. 
  • Delegates will consider how to contextualise learning across a range of historical units. 
  • Delegates will learn how to inject curiosity into learning in primary history. 

Saturday, Session 2: 12:15–13:15 

Suitable for: Key Stage 2 | history subject leader, trainee teacher, early career teacher, classroom teacher 

For Wales, see England: rebalancing British history in the primary classroom

Alex Pethick
Knowledge Schools Trust, London 

The National Curriculum calls for the teaching of British history, yet in practice most schools overwhelmingly focus on England, leaving Wales and Scotland underrepresented. Through the use of storytelling, this session explores how Welsh history, rich in culture, conflict and contribution, can be brought to life in the classroom. From Owain Glyndŵr’s legendary uprising to the global legacy of Welsh coal in powering the Industrial Revolution, we will examine why Welsh history matters and how it can be meaningfully integrated into the primary curriculum.  

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Welsh history and its significance within the broader context of British history. 
  • Participants will leave with practical examples for embedding Welsh history into the primary curriculum in engaging and meaningful ways.  

Saturday, Session 3: 14:15–15:15 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 | classroom teacher, trainee teacher, early career teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

Teaching significance and interpretation through Mary Anning

Jo McWhinney-Tripp
University of East London 

This workshop invites teachers to explore how Mary Anning’s life and legacy can enrich and diversify the Key Stage 1 curriculum. Participants will examine practical classroom approaches that use Anning’s story to introduce the complex ideas of significance and interpretation. Through enquiry-based tasks, accessible sources and creative activities, we will consider how to help children to explore how people are remembered and why some stories are retold while others are forgotten. Drawing on examples such as the Mary Anning Rocks campaign, this session highlights how history teaching can empower children to see themselves as active interpreters of the past. 

Learning outcomes:
Participants will gain practical and accessible ideas on how to teach significance and interpretation meaningfully to younger children. 

Saturday, Session 3: 14:15–15:15 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1 | classroom teacher, early career teacher 

Education Keynote

Ofsted

Tim Jenner
Ofsted

We are delighted to be joined by Tim Jenner, Ofsted’s subject lead for history, for a special education keynote. Tim will discuss Ofsted’s 2025 inspection framework, methodology and recent research findings, and the implications of these for history teachers and subject leaders in schools.

Saturday: 15:45–16:45

Sessions from other pathways

Primary teachers and subject leaders may also be interested in these workshops from other education pathways.

Beyond Tudor queens and suffragettes: ESIS strategies for reclaiming women’s place in history

Sasha Smith
Priory Lincoln Academy; End Sexism in Schools 

Drawing on The Great History Heist, End Sexism in Schools’ national study into gender bias in Key Stage 3 history, this session focuses on what teachers and departments can do now with their existing curriculum to recapture the voices of women who were always there. The 2025 ESIS report revealed that at Key Stage 3, 59% of lessons included no mention of women at all, and only 5% of schools taught a single named woman in each period of the National Curriculum. The report calls for institutional change and highlights how teachers can begin these changes now.

Learning outcomes:
Participants will gain a clear understanding of the report’s key findings and explore realistic strategies for weaving women into existing enquiries. They will leave with specific examples and freely available resources to support curriculum development. By the end, teachers will feel confident to create a more representative, academically rigorous and complete history curriculum. 

Friday, Session 1: 10:45–11:45 

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, early career teacher, trainee teacher, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

Making history matter: linking local history to national and international stories

Emmy Quinn
Newminster Middle School, Morpeth

This session will examine how using local history can show students that their history matters and make them feel more connected to national and international history. Using examples from Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, Emmy will explore how local history from the North East can be connected to wider histories through both specific units of study and being weaved into other units. She will include how to best find examples from local history using archives, museums, local sites and research, and how to use these in lessons.

Learning outcomes:

  • Delegates will come away with practical ideas for including more local history in the curriculum. 
  • Delegates will explore how to build units of study around local history. 
  • The session will provide examples of how this has been done in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, linking together local, national and global stories. 

Friday, Session 1: 10:45–11:45 

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 | history subject leader, classroom teacher, early career teacher, teacher educator/mentor 

When worlds collide: maximising curriculum time through cross-curricular enquiries

Sally Thorne
Montpelier High School, Bristol 

Inspired by the national conferences of both the Geographical Association and the Historical Association, Sally had been working with her head of geography colleague, Natalie, to develop a scheme of work for Year 7 that draws together the golden threads of the humanities subjects for their Year 7 group. Taking their cue from Anjana Khatwa’s GA conference lecture in 2025, this enquiry delves into the geological processes involved in the formation of Hawaii, the stories told by Indigenous peoples about the islands and the impact of colonisation and decolonisation. Sally will also share an outline of their latest enquiry, inspired by Michael Riley’s HA presentation on environmental history: this enquiry examines the Industrial Revolution and its ongoing impact on our population and environment. 

Learning outcomes:
Come along for an opportunity to discuss these schemes of work and how you can work collaboratively with other humanities colleagues in your schools.  

Friday, Session 2: 12:00–13:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, early career teacher, trainee teacher 

‘They’ll never be able to do that’

Alex Fairlamb
Kings Priory School, Newcastle upon Tyne 

How often have we heard the phrases ‘they’ll never be able to do that’ or ‘some students shouldn’t take history as it’s too hard for them’? This session will challenge those attitudes and misconceptions and demand that we have high expectations of all students, explaining why we should ensure that all students are encouraged to study history as well as experience success when learning about the past. Noting the challenges that exist in the classroom in supporting low prior attainers and students with barriers, during the session we will discuss a range of history scaffolding strategies, including research, implementation ideas and the pitfalls of which to be mindful. Delegates will leave with a range of practical strategies, rooted in examples from multiple key stages. 

Learning outcomes:
Delegates will understand how to use scaffolding to teach to the top and support all learners to succeed in the history classroom. 

Friday, Session 2: 12:00–13:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, post-16 | classroom teacher, trainee teacher, early career teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

Building historical thinking for generalist primary teachers

Jennifer Huntsley, Stephanie Jach
York St John University 

Following the 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review, we consider how ITE might support generalist primary student teachers to develop secure substantive and disciplinary knowledge, in terms of both content and pedagogy. Our recent work has seen us outline these aspects of primary history more explicitly in our university-based teaching. This workshop discusses how we have developed our curriculum, alongside primary student teachers’ perspectives and its impact on their historical thinking and practice.

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will understand how to support generalist primary teachers to develop their own and their pupils’ substantive knowledge and historical thinking. 
  • Participants will explore a range of subject-specific teaching strategies for primary history. 
  • Participants will consider new directions for primary history and ITE in light of the 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review.  

Friday, Session 3: 14:00–15:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 | teacher educator/mentor, trainee teacher, early career teacher, classroom teacher, history subject leader, senior leader 

The Collier’s Rant: what songs should be sung of Britain’s coal mining communities?

Morgan Robinson
The University of Sheffield 

Colliers and their families made Britain, and many of its communities and their identities exist in the shadow of the industry that once defined them. Yet the historical significance of coal mining and its legacy are often contested, divisive or ignored. This session taps into the rich seam of folk songs sung of and by miners and mining communities, to empower pupils to decide for themselves how these histories and legacies should be understood. This historical enquiry asks pupils to curate a selection of songs from across a range of themes, time and place. By what they include and omit, pupils can judge how the history of coal mining should be remembered and understood. 

Learning outcomes:
Participants will leave with an adaptable enquiry structure and a range of materials to support pupils to curate a representative selection of songs from across the UK and/or bespoke to their school’s more local context.  

Friday, Session 3: 14:00–15:00 

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, post-16 | classroom teacher, trainee teacher, early career teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

From MDLVIII to 1603: Elizabethan England’s number revolution

Rob Eastaway
Maths Inspiration 

While Elizabethan England was staging Hamlet and sending explorers across the oceans, it was also quietly changing the way in which it counted. In the late sixteenth century, England made the tricky switch from ancient Roman numerals to the ‘new-fangled’ Arabic numerals that we use today. For decades, people (including Shakespeare) juggled both systems, much like Britain's present-day mix of metric and imperial measures. In this workshop, author Rob Eastaway explores how this numerical revolution influenced Elizabethan education, navigation, trade and even theatres such as The Globe. 

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will understand the historical shift from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals in late Tudor England, and place it within the wider context of sixteenth-century change. 
  • The session will connect the numeral revolution to key GCSE themes, including Elizabethan exploration, the role of education and developments in culture and society. 
  • The session aims to enrich lessons on Elizabethan England with fresh, cross-curricular links to maths and English. 

Saturday, Session 1: 11:00–12:00  

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, post-16 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, trainee teacher, early career teacher, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor 

How can stories, historians and museum resources be used together?

David Hibbert, Eleanor Nicholson
The Cherwell School, Oxford  

In this session, we want to make a case that the use of stories is made richer and more rigorous by explicit links to the interpretations of historians and the sources of evidence that they used to form them. We want to showcase the richness of material that is readily available to teachers through museums, libraries and archives, as well as make it clear that using this material does not require proximity to a convenient museum. We will also discuss and exemplify this through an ongoing collaboration with the Ashmolean Museum. 

Learning outcomes:
The session will explore and exemplify an approach to teaching disciplinary knowledge that integrates story. 

Saturday, Session 2: 12:15–13:15   

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, post-16 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor, trainee teacher, early career teacher 

How do we make history meaningful for young people?

Dan Lyndon-Cohen
Schools History Project; Park View School, London

This workshop will explore the pioneering and radical principles that launched the Schools Council History 13–16 Project in 1972, and reflect on their transformative impact in the history classroom. It will also make the case that these principles are not just relevant for today, but also represent a powerful and practical toolkit that can inspire students of history in 2025 and beyond.

Learning outcomes:
Participants will be able to discuss and reflect on the impact of core principles of SHP and have a range of practical applications to take away that will help to make history more meaningful for their students. 

Saturday, lunchtime fringe: 13:25—14:05   

Suitable for: Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, post-16 | classroom teacher, trainee teacher, early career teacher, history subject leader, senior leader, teacher educator/mentor  

What does A.C.E. history teaching look like?

Richard McFahn 
University of Sussex
Aaron Wilkes
University of Warwick

In this session, Richard and Aaron aim to provide the antidote to the Curriculum Review’s recent findings that a disproportionate amount of history teaching focuses on rote learning and teaching to the test. They will emphasise how to make history lessons Accessible, Challenging and Engaging. To do this, they will provide you with five simple yet effective teaching strategies that you can use the next time you teach your classes.

Learning outcomes:

  • Participants will leave with knowledge of the recommendations made in the Curriculum Review for history. 
  • Participants will come away with tried and tested teaching strategies to use to help to make lessons accessible, challenging and engaging. 

Saturday, Session 3: 14:15–15:15   

Suitable for: Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4, post-16 | classroom teacher, history subject leader, early career teacher