Teach Primary Issue 19.6

6 resources to support your diverse history roster: 1 English Heritage – blue plaques for significant Black Britons: tinyurl. com/tp-EHblueplaques 2 The Proud Trust – primary resources for LGBTQ+ inclusion: tinyurl.com/tp-ProudPrimary 3 The Historical Association – list of significant individuals by region: tinyurl.com/ tp-HAsigind 4 UK Museums – a list of local history museums in the UK: tinyurl.com/tp-LHlist 5 Newsround – author David Olusoga talking about his book, Black and British: tinyurl.com/ tp-BlackAndBritis h 6 Nosy Crow – a peek inside Lands of Belonging , by Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhatt: tinyurl.com/tp-LoB that children can ask and answer enquiry-led questions such as ‘Who was the most significant?’ or ‘Whose legacy had the most impact?’. Less obvious choices also get pupils questioning their preconceptions about what they already know. For instance, studying Walter Tull during Remembrance Week got pupils in Y3 discussing the fact that soldiers in World War I came from different backgrounds and that life for Walter Tull and other Black officers might have been more difficult at that time than it would be now. Resources So, where to find out about these people? Much work has been done on individuals from Black History: David Olusoga’s picturebook version of Black and British is a fantastic resource for finding out about Black African people who built the history of our country. English Heritage has also provided detailed information on famous Black Britons who have Blue Plaques dedicated to them. Similarly, Lands of Belonging by Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhatt gives a good overview of South-East Asian history and its contribution to our culture. The Proud Trust offers teaching resources that provide a good starting point for incorporating significant LGBTQ+ individuals (see the panel on the right for links). Your locality should also be incorporated into studying significant historical individuals, which helps to make the content relevant. For example, in my school, children in KS1 study the iconic Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole but also look at Nellie Spindler, who lived in Wakefield. In KS2, they examine the Ivory Bangle Lady from York, and look at Sir Martin Frobisher: the last figure proved contentious when pupils discovered he was not just a hero of the Armada but was involved in the early slave trade and responsible for colonising an area of Canada, oppressing its indigenous people. The Historical Association’s list of local significant individuals is an invaluable resource for this, split into lists of people by region. Getting in touch with your local museum service can also throw up some great suggestions – there may even be an exhibition or a visitor who will ignite pupils’ learning. Teaching approaches Good history learning is not about long information texts or posters Here are a couple of approaches that have worked well in my own classroom: Pupils used Diamond Nine grids to rank given statements about a person and decide which was their most significant achievement. The emphasis was very much on discussion and children were allowed to move statements into different parts of the grid, provided they could justify their opinions. In Significance Knockout battles (where two individuals in the same field or period are compared) children studied two contrasting individuals and were split in teams to look at one in depth. They then argued why their individual was more significant. Both these activities got pupils looking at source material, reasoning and provided lively and thoughtful discussion. Teaching about significant individuals is not about pupils regurgitating dates and facts; it’s about pupil dialogue, reasoning and creating visibility for lesser-known narratives. Children are our future communicators and changemakers – the disciplinary knowledge they gain studying these figures is not only history, but a foundation for the citizens they’re becoming. TP HUMAN I T I E S S P E C I A L www.teachwire.net | 67 Lindsey Rawes is a primary teacher and history lead. She is also a chartered teacher of history for the Historical Association. @LindsRoars theprimaryhistorian. substack.com @lindsroars.bsky.social