Our history curriculum is knowledge rich: knowledge is valued, specified, well sequenced and taught to be remembered. The content of the curriculum has been carefully chosen by experts, and has been sequenced in a meaningful way that enables children to make connections and progress from unit to unit, term to term and year to year. Information is presented in small steps; it is clearly explained and well-modelled. Children have opportunities to discuss, ask and answer questions, explain their learning and work independently. The history curriculum also enables children to build interesting and meaningful connections across other subjects such as English, science and geography. So that all children have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, the curriculum is ambitious yet achievable to all with carefully produced scaffolding and support in place where necessary. 

From EYFS through to year six, key threads are revisited over time, including: British history, ancestry, monarchy, power, democracy, parliament and migration. Through these threads, children understand how historians use: causes and consequences of events, changes over time, sources as evidence, and stories from significant individuals to learn about the past. In EYFS, the main focus is for children to gain an understanding of the term ‘past’; children learn about this through looking at themselves and their own families. From year 1 through to year 6, a wide variety of historical topics are taught including: Kings, Queens and Leaders in year 1; Powerful Voices in year 2; Ancient Egypt in year 3; Ancient Rome in year 4; The Early British Empire in year 5, and The Suffragettes in year 6. Stories of significant individuals are used to build on children’s prior learning, and local history is incorporated where suitable. This careful selection of historical topics supports the development of both cultural capital and British Values.