“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Intent
Our vision is to give every pupil a rich and coherent understanding of the past, enabling them to develop a strong sense of chronology, historical knowledge and curiosity about the people, events and societies that have shaped our world. We intend for children to develop both substantive knowledge — knowing about the past — and disciplinary knowledge — understanding how historians investigate and interpret it. Through a carefully sequenced curriculum, pupils encounter a diverse range of people, societies and periods, developing an understanding of how and why life changes over time and how the past continues to influence the present.
Implementation
In EYFS, children:
- begin to develop an understanding of the past through stories, personal experiences and familiar events
- talk about similarities and differences between now and the past
- begin to use vocabulary relating to time and change
- develop curiosity about people, places and events from the past
In KS1 and KS2, we deliver history lessons in a structured, progressive way, ensuring that pupils build both substantive and disciplinary knowledge.
- Substantive knowledge: Knowledge of people, events, periods and societies, including their chronology, significance and the changes that occurred over time.
- Disciplinary knowledge: Understanding how historians work — using evidence, asking questions, identifying change and continuity, considering cause and consequence, and recognising that interpretations of the past can differ.
- Chronological knowledge: Developing a secure understanding of when events and periods occurred and how they relate to one another.
Our history curriculum is organised around recurring historical themes: Change, Democracy & Government, Monarchy, Settlement & Empire and Local History. These themes are revisited across the curriculum so that pupils can make connections between different periods and increasingly understand patterns of continuity and change.
- Through units such as the Stone Age to Iron Age, pupils explore how and why societies change over time.
- Through units such as Ancient Greece, Parliament and Prime Ministers and the Suffragettes, pupils explore democracy, government, power and the ways people have influenced society.
- Through units including Kings, Queens & Leaders, the Tudors and Richard III, pupils investigate monarchy, leadership and the impact of individual figures.
- Through units such as the Romans in Britain, Invaders and Settlers and the Roman Empire, pupils explore settlement, invasion, migration and the expansion and impact of empires.
- Local history is woven throughout the curriculum, enabling pupils to understand how national and international events have shaped their own locality, including through the study of Richard III and the Industrial Revolution in Leicester.
We explicitly teach pupils to think and work like historians. - Children learn to use a range of primary and secondary sources, considering what they can tell us about the past and recognising their limitations.
- Pupils develop chronological understanding by sequencing events, periods and developments and making connections across time.
- Children investigate historical questions, using evidence to reach and justify conclusions.
- Pupils explore cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, significance and historical interpretation.
- Children are encouraged to recognise that accounts of the past can differ and to consider why historians might reach different conclusions.
Skills & Vocabulary Progression
- We use a progressive skills framework to ensure that historical enquiry and disciplinary skills are systematically developed across year groups.
- Children are taught historical vocabulary explicitly, enabling them to discuss the past with increasing confidence, precision and sophistication.
- Key terminology is revisited frequently so that pupils can describe chronology, evidence, change, cause, consequence and significance accurately.
- Pupils increasingly use historical knowledge and vocabulary to construct their own explanations, arguments and interpretations.
Impact
As a result of our history curriculum, pupils become knowledgeable, curious and thoughtful historians. They develop a secure chronological understanding and can explain how people, societies and events have changed over time. Our pupils can use a range of evidence to investigate the past, recognise that sources have strengths and limitations, and construct their own informed conclusions. They can explain causes and consequences, identify change and continuity, and understand that historical interpretations can differ. Through studying local, national and global history, pupils develop a strong understanding of how the past has shaped the world in which they live. They take pride in their growing historical knowledge and are able to ask increasingly perceptive questions about the past.
