History

We aim to make history a fascinating and thought-provoking learning experience that stimulates curiosity and promotes a love and thirst for learning. We want children to become good historians: explore different lines of enquiry, think critically, evaluate sources and develop perspective to support their judgement.

We believe that our children need a balanced and varied knowledge of ancient and modern history. We teach some periods in history in chronological sequence, spread across KS2, such as the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. We study other ancient periods non-chronologically. Careful planning ensures that the pupils have a progressive understanding of events or civilisations that resonate through time, shaping the world we live in today.

Two key documents set out our curriculum design for history:

1. Our history progression map shows the key knowledge and skills that our children should acquire each year, with a clear sequence of learning that builds year on year, across Key Stage 2.
2. A long-term overview of how history is covered each year and across KS2, including a summary of key learning.

We study the history curriculum through carefully chosen topics, teaching historical concepts explicitly whilst making appropriate links with other subjects. We encourage our pupils to immerse themselves in each period of history but exploit relevant cross-curricular links to create a sustainable model for learning. Our knowledge and skills organisers and lesson plans outline the implementation of historical concepts within each topic.

Creative planning and learning stimulates pupils’ imaginations through independent research, debates, discussions and handling artefacts. We also plan trips and visits to enhance learning for historical topics. The children gain greater insights into historical periods through experiential learning and hands on work.

Please see our curriculum plans below.