Teaching the Iron Age – KS2 scheme of work
This scheme of work has been created as an overview and will obviously require age appropriate adaptations.
We have included four suggested points for learning visits which link directly to a specific area of study.
Hopefully this will enable teachers to adapt their pre and post visit teaching as is most helpful.
An Iron Age theme day at Chiltern Open Air Museum will provide learning in:
 the structure of an Iron Age House and the materials used to build the house
 cooking in an Iron Age Round House
 The lifestyle of people living in the Iron Age and Romano Briton
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Teachers are then able to choose two from the following
Workshop: Shelter building – which will enhance comparison between the Iron Age Round House and the temporary shelters of the hunter gathers
Workshop: An archaeological dig - which will enhance the process of learning from artefacts
Workshop: Romans and Britons living together
Self-led: Exploration of Iron Age lifestyle which will allow children to create IA coil pots, explore the process of carding wool from fleece to woven
cloth, explore the different dyes used by the Iron Age Britons, aspects of Roman art
This planning draws on many different learning strands.
It is intended that teachers will use this planning and the learning visit together to create the best experience for their school group.
Please be aware that you cannot - within the logistics of one theme day - access all the above workshops and self-led activities.
Learning Objective
Explore what an
individual human
needs in order to
survive
Historical skill focus
Suggested learning
approaches
Skill foci
Select and organise relevant
information (2014 curriculum)
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Extension: explore what a
society needs in order to
survive
Categorise thoughts into
more/less important, identify
most important – discuss
reasoning
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Recording suggestions:
Paired recording sheet
Power point
Presentation to class group
Lesson/Activity suggestions
In age appropriate manner:
 Identify human need
 How we have met our needs today
 How have others made sure our
needs will be met today?
 Upper KS2 – how do we plan in
order to ensure our needs are met?
Explore:
food – buying/sourcing
clothes – washing/repairing
homes – safety/warmth
warmth – heating/clothing
leisure – being happy/
entertainment
UKS2 – may wish to explore planning for the
future/ education/ etc.
Success criteria/outcome
Children will:
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Children may:
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Cross-curricula link science:
characteristics of all living things
Explore the different
ways in which we
cook food
Ext: explore implications
of cooking without our
modern equipment
Skill foci
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Organise information
Construct an informed response
for a given audience
(2014 curriculum)
possible learning approaches
- analysis of photographs
- answers to prepared questions
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Explore (through variety of media)
different meals and how they would
be cooked.
Explore the equipment used to
create for example:
Cakes, Bread, Pasta
Roast dinners
Casseroles/curries, etc.
Paper plate meal creation?
Photographic analysis
Interview school kitchen staff/parents
Be able to hypothesise
about how IA humanity
met their needs
Identify how IA society
adapted as a result of these
needs
Children will:
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Present their learning appropriately;
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Understand the
requirements for human
survival
Be able to identify how we
meet those requirements in
the 21st century
Have questions about how
humans in the IA met their
basic needs
Communicate knowledge
of different cooking
methods
Have identified multiple
methods of food prep and
meal cookery
Have identified the
efficiency of our modern
cooking equipment
Children may:
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Explore implications of
Individual Learning
Outcomes
(to be recorded if needed/
as appropriate)
UKS2: Discuss implications of cooking
using IA facilities (photographic prompt
cooking in a society
without modern equipment
available in teacher resources file)
Explore the different
ways in which we
source our food in the
21st century
Skill foci
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Organise information
Construct an informed response
for a given audience
(2014 curriculum)
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on-line, supermarket, local shops,
farmer’s deliveries, etc.
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possible learning approaches
- identifying the information
required
- formulating questions
- collating information
- analysing responses
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Suggested Visit A
Focus will be to
contrast 21st century
with the IA in regard
to:
 How did the IA
humans ensure
their survival?
 How did they
source their food?
 How did they cook
Skill foci
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chronology
Interpretation – How has the IA
been represented in the context
of this museum?
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Enquiry - finding out about the
past through a range of sources
(Primary History pre-2014 curriculum)
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Note connections and contrasts
over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum)
Explore how many times a week a
family receives/goes shopping – why
do they think families 100 years ago
had to shop daily
Explore why these choices are made:
questionnaire/survey, general class
discussion
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Recording Suggestions:
Photographic evidence
Group power-point
Flow chart
Written report
etc.
Explore through variety of media
how different families shop:
Discuss food preservation techniques
and how these have changed with
increases in technology
UKS2: Explore the implications of food
sourcing when no shops/markets/factory
farming existed
During the visit, children will:
 Learn how water, flour, milk and
butter were sourced and used in Iron
Age homes.
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They will discuss which crops were
grown and how different protein
sources (meat, fish, eggs and cheese)
were maintained and sourced.
Children will:
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Communicate knowledge
of different food sourcing
methods
Age Appropriate: have
identified the processes of
storage and how nutritional
value of food stuff decays
over time
Age appropriate: have
identified methods of food
preservation
Age appropriate: have
explored the ethics of food
sourcing
Children may:
 Explore multiple
implications of food
sourcing and the consumer
food market
Possible Learning Outcomes to be developed
back at school
Record new information and construct informed
responses:
Revisit any questions written before the visit, note
the new learning that has taken place and record
this knowledge in an age appropriate manner
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their food?
How have we
learnt about their
lifestyle?
Explore how an Iron
Age house was built
Skill foci
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chronology
interpretation – How has the IA
been represented in different
contexts?
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Enquiry - ask and answer
questions
(Primary History pre-2014 curriculum)
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Children will make butter, grind flour
and make dough using Iron Age
techniques.
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Children will learn about the vital
role archaeology plays in teaching us
about the past.
Explore through variety of media: artist
impressions, diagrams, etc. how an IA
round house is envisaged by
archaeologists
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Note connections and contrasts
over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum)
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Possible learning approaches
The content of this session can difficult
to resource. It may be easiest to teach
this session following a learning visit to
an actual Iron Age Round House.
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Explore the difficulties of knowing how an IA
round house actually looked (none survive,
no photographs, etc. )
Discuss how we gather evidence about how
these houses looked and the accuracy of this
evidence
Explore the materials used to create an IA
round house
Note that all materials would have been
sourced locally and would have been ‘natural’
Explore why certain materials were used to
build strong doors, waterproof roofs, etc.
Explore the purpose of wattle and daub –
how did they ensure the walls kept the wind
out? etc.
Possible activities
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Build a round house in groups/pairs as a class
Identify aspects of replica houses from
photographs
Discuss the sustainability of the Iron Age lifestyle
Compare this with our lifestyle in the 21st century.
Debate the ethics of food sourcing now that
knowledge of IA sustainability has been discovered.
Discuss the taste of Iron Age food.
How does this compare to 21st century food?
What is added to our food to make it taste better?
Are these additions healthy for us?
Children will:
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Understand the
requirements for human
survival and how a home
meets those needs
Identify similarities and
differences between their
home and an IA round
house
Identify how properties of
certain materials are linked
to function
Have suggestions about how
technological developments
would/could impact this IA
community (Upper KS2)
Children may:
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Be able to hypothesise
about how IA humanity
could adapt as new cultures
arrived in Britain
Identify how IA society
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Suggested Visit B
At this stage your visit
would focus on two
aspects:
Contrast of 21st century
and IA lifestyle
 How did the IA
humans ensure
their survival?
 How did they
source and cook
their food?
 How have we
learnt about their
lifestyle?
Skill foci
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chronology
Interpretation – How has the IA
been represented in the context
of this museum?
(Primary History pre-2014 curriculum)
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Note connections and contrasts
over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum)
and
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Contrast between
IA Round House
and a temporary
shelter
adapted as a result of these
needs
During the visit children will:
Access all learning from visit A
Possible Learning Outcomes to be developed
back at school
In addition please book the Shelters
workshop
The Shelters workshop will allow
children to contrast the use of building
materials. They will learn how these
same buildings used in the construction
of the IA Round House create a very
different shelter from one they are able
to create during the workshop.
Know and understand significant aspects of the nature
of ancient civilisations
Revisit their definition of a warm, safe environment
and note how their shelters matched up against
this definition
Upper KS2 will contrast the nature of
temporary Mesolithic shelters and
lifestyle with the permanent nature of the
Round House and the lifestyle which
ensued.
Explore how other ancient civilisations met
these needs
Look at the construction of a Celtic Round House
and how this building met requirements for
safety, warmth, hospitality and leisure time
Draw contrasts and comparisons between
how different societies met human need
USK2—identify how life changed for societies as they
moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the
more settled life of an Iron Age farmer
Accessed through
the Shelter
Workshop
Explore the different
ways in which we learn
Test the waterproof properties of different
materials used in the building process of IA
round houses
Skill foci
Select and organise relevant
In age appropriate manner
Children will:
 Identify what humans throw away and  Understand that the 21st
from archaeology
information (2014 curriculum)
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Categorise thoughts into
more/less important, identify
most important – discuss
reasoning
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Recording suggestions:
Paired recording sheet
Power point
Presentation to class group
call rubbish
Identify what happens to our rubbish
I the 21st century
Identify which materials decay
quicker than others,
UPKS2: link this knowledge with
learning about how some artefacts
will be preserved and others will rot
completely away: archaeological
implications.
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Children may:
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Suggested Activities
Collect a bag of rubbish (clean!)
Carry out various identifying processes:
materials, packaging, storage, etc.
Put items together which could tell a story
and ask children to ‘tell the story’ of the bag
contents
Cross-curricula link: creative writing,
science
Explore the different
ways in which we learn
from archaeology
Skill foci
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chronology
enquiry/interpretation – An
artefact offers an interpretation of
the past and gives a great deal of
information.
(Primary History pre-2014 curriculum)
Introduce the concept that archaeology is
rubbish – stuff that people have thrown
away or left behind in the past.
(Reference that sometimes archaeological
finds also relate to rituals from the past – so
not always rubbish)
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Note connections and contrasts
over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum)
Possible learning approaches
It is perfectly possible to deliver this
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Explore through variety of media how
we learn about the past generally
photographs of artefacts, paintings,
photographs, etc.
Explore the difficulties of interpretation
with this era – such little evidence
Explore how heavily we relay on the
evidence of archaeology as a result and
century humans throw a lot
of rubbish away
Identify how rubbish is
disposed of
Identify that some materials
decay faster than others
Be able to hypothesise
about how the different
speeds of decay have
implications relating to
archaeology and our study
of the past.
Children will:
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Understand how the past is
represented through
artefacts
Be able to identify how we
learn through artefacts
Identify where an artefact
can only suggest
information rather than
provide facts
Understand the concept of
experimental archaeology
Children may:
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Be able to hypothesise
lesson using photographs of artefacts,
however, having a selection of artefacts
and replicas to use will definitely
enhance the learning process. If it isn’t
possible to source Iron Age or stone
age replicas the process of learning
from artefacts can be accessed within
any time era. The skills learnt at
school would then be transferable to
the analysis of Iron Age replicas during
a museum visit.
Explore aspects of Iron
Age lifestyle
Skill foci
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chronology
enquiry – experience aspects of IA
lifestyle to find out about people
and changes over time
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ask and answer questions
(Primary History curriculum pre-2014 )
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Suggested Visit C
Iron Age lifestyle can be
explored through the
self-led Exploration
of Celtic Life
resource at the
museum.
Note connections and contrasts
over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum)
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UPSK2: may be able to draw conclusions
about society as a whole from looking at
a variety of artefacts.
Explore through variety of media: artist
impressions, diagrams, replicas, etc.
different aspects of IA lifestyle as
envisaged by archaeologists
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Explore the clothing that would have been
worn and where the materials to make these
costumes originated
Discuss the process of turning a sheep’s
fleece into a piece of cloth
Explore the wonderful colours used dye and
how these colours were sourced
Explore the ‘jobs’ to be fulfilled by the
community
Pottery – coil pots of many different sizes
were used. No wheels were thrown as the
Romans were the first to use this technology
Iron Age = use of iron to create cooking pots,
griddles, tools, etc. Discuss the implications
of this
Possible activities
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about aspects of lifestyle
through synthesising the
knowledge gained from
individual artefacts
how often we have to use experimental
archaeology to try and work out how
things were done in the past
Explore the process of learning
information from an artefact – how
materials, shape, technology help to tell
us a story about specific lifestyle facts of
a specific era.
Explore how – as with a specific bag of
rubbish which tells a story – a collection
of artefacts from one archaeological site
also tell a story.
Research on any of the above topics
Practical activities based around wood
Children will:
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Understand the
requirements for human
survival & identify how
these requirements were
met in the IA
Identify similarities and
differences between their
home and an IA round
house
Understand how the past is
represented through
artefacts
Be able to identify the
difference between a fact
and a hypothesis
Understand the concept of
experimental archaeology
Children may:
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Explore how aspects of
different Ancient
cultures merged and
impacted upon each
other in Britain
Skill foci
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chronology
enquiry – find out about people
and changes over time
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ask and answer questions
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Interpretation – how have
different cultures been
represented – bias?
(Primary History curriculum pre-2014)
Compare through a variety of media:
different aspects of IA lifestyle explored
so far within this topic and Roman
culture
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Note connections and the impact
of contrasts over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum
carding/dying
Creation of clay coil pots
Comparing properties of iron with other
materials and identifying implications
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Explore background of trade between
Romans and Britons prior to invasion in
43AD – cultural and language differences
would already have been known
Discuss why the Romans wanted to invade:
resources, iron, wood, clay, salt, slaves, fertile
land to farm
Explore what they learnt from each
other/how they integrated: evidence that sons
of Celtic chiefs went to Rome (political
cleverness or hostage?), evidence of Roman
kitchen ware used in the IA roundhouses, etc.
Explore the similarities between the cultures:
both bartered for goods but Romans used
coinage, both used lamps and candles,
Romans introduced use of olive oil, both liked
to beautify their homes –used different
techniques to do this.
Explore the differences: a main difference was
literacy – the Romans recorded through
writing, different shaped homes, development
of Roman technologies, building of cities and
roads, etc.
UKS2
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Explore the impacts of a one culture on
another in more depth: for example through
role play activities
Explore the implications of evidence: much of
our evidence about Celtic lifestyle comes
from the contemporary Roman writings.
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Be able to hypothesise
about aspects of lifestyle
through synthesising the
knowledge gained from
individual artefacts
Children will:
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Identify similarities and
differences between the
different cultures merging
in Britain during the late IA
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Understand how we
learn about the past
through a variety of
representations
Children may:
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Be able to explore the
concept of bias – how
accurate are contemporary
written accounts?
Understand that much of
what we know about the
Celts is from Roman
contemporary writings.
How accurate would these have been?
Suggested Visit D
Skill foci
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chronology
enquiry – experience aspects of IA
lifestyle
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ask and answer questions
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Interpretation – how have
different cultures been
represented – bias?
(Primary History curriculum pre-2014)
The impact Roman
culture had upon British
Iron Age lifestyle can be
explored through the
Romans and Britons
living together.
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workshop.
Note connections and the impact
of contrasts over time
 Use appropriate vocabulary
(2014 curriculum
During this workshop, children will:
 Revisit the teaching points outlined
above
Possible Learning Outcomes to be developed
back at school
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Use replicas and artefacts to explore
Roman culture
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Practically explore aspects of Roman
and Celtic lifestyles
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Discuss notable similarities and
differences
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Make a Roman oil lamp to take home
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Children will learn about the vital
role archaeology plays in teaching us
about the past.
Children will:
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Identify similarities and differences between the
different cultures merging in Britain during the late IA
Age appropriate: placed these cultures chronologically
Understand how the past is represented through
artefacts
Have experienced the concept of experimental
archaeology
Have hypothesised and found answers to questions
Children may:
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Be able to explore the concept of bias – how accurate
are contemporary written accounts?