The Schools History Project’s Summer Conference is the absolute highlight of my teaching year. We call it the ‘Glastonbury of the mind’ (copyright Arthur Chapman) because it is the standout event of the summer, and the vibes are just as strong. It’s a wonderful weekend of outstanding professional development, as well as a chance to be a part of our growing SHP family. This year we are returning to...
Read More »Dear SHP Family It’s early on a Sunday morning, it’s raining (again) and it’s my birthday. So what on earth am I doing sitting at my desk writing this blog? The answer is pretty simple. The SHP Summer Conference matters to me, and I hope it matters to many of the people reading this. I’ve been networking hard recently to promote the conference and have been asked a number o...
Read More »Black Tudors Miranda Kaufmann’s plenary at SHP 2019 and workshop by Josh Garry and Wendy Lennon alerted delegates to a range of approached that teachers nationally are developing using Miranda’s books. The short blog explains the background to the project while the Google Drive contains materials that have already been created to support teachers, but please feel free to add some of your own. Curr...
Read More »We’re incredibly proud to be launching a new initiative for the next academic year, designed to support teachers in curriculum planning and subject knowledge around key topics in the history curriculum. What are SHP Planning Groups? SHP Planning Groups are groups of teachers who will work together through a six-month project to learn from each other, experienced teachers and historical exper...
Read More »This workshop was based on a collaboration with the historian Yasmin Khan. The substantive focus was a comparative study of the British and Indian Home fronts during the second world war. However, we were also keen to give access to the ways historians construct their historical claims. The 12-minute film was made to allow Yasmin Khan to talk directly to students about her methods, her issues with...
Read More »Black Tudors Miranda Kaufman’s plenary at SHP 2019 and workshop by Josh Garry and Wendy Lennon alerted delegates to a range of approached that teachers nationally are developing using Miranda’s books. The short blog explains the background to the project while the Google Drive contains materials that have already been created to support teachers, but please feel free to add some of your own. Curre...
Read More »The following resources have been produced by SHP Regional Adviser for the southeast, Andy Harmsworth, to support teachers offering the OCR B World Depth Study ‘Aztecs and the Spanish Conquest, 1519-35’ The Greatest Coincidence in History? This addresses one of the key issues in both the ‘Encounters’’ and ‘Conquest, 1519-21’ sections of the specification: why Moctezuma welcomed the inv...
Read More »It’s early days, but we’ve already had lots of positive feedback from teachers and students about the new OCR B (SHP) GCSE. At the OCR First Teaching courses in the autumn, teachers reported that they and their students were enjoying three aspects of the course in particular: The wide range of history offered by the SHP GCSE. Teachers told us that their chosen five studies provide a varied and int...
Read More »We all have our preferred activities to use in the classroom. To help you keep your practice fresh as you plan the 50th revision session of the season or emerge from under that pile of coursework to teach KS3, here are some favourites from some of our regional advisers. One of my favourite activities with my GCSE class when we studied Victorian public health was building up a large timeline of key...
Read More »‘I forget what I was taught, I only remember what I’ve learnt.’ Dale Banham (Northgate High School, Ipswich) Russell Hall (Kesgrave High School, Ipswich) This article provides a brief synopsis of an action research project between two schools in Ipswich. Our aims have been to promote curiosity, intrinsic motivation and a greater degree of independence amongst our A Level students. We recently shar...
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