We firmly believe that children from the earliest age possible should be taught that history is a construct.  We love using the works of real historians at different points in lessons.

Our pupils should see that history is created by historians and others who piece together the past from the evidence that have been left behind. They create interpretations or constructs based on the evidence that they have been selected.

The interpretation has been created in a certain context ie the historians view point or time of writing. Often historians disagree – that is fine if we understand how their history was created in the first place.

TV historians are great to use and have become  a particular favourite of ours – Simon Schama, David Starkey and Niall Ferguson often write or say things to shock. It is great to use their words with our classes and ask the kids if they think the historian is correct – or to set up a challenge to see if the class can do better than the sloppy historian.  This is all good fun and it allows the youngsters to see that historians construct the past. Here are a few examples.

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