History

“We explore the past to understand our world and help shape the future.”

As a Church of England primary school, our Christian values of Love & Kindness, Friendship, Respect, Justice, Freedom & Responsibility, and Equality underpin our curriculum and shape the way we learn, question and understand the world around us.

Our LIVE curriculum encourages children to become:

• L – Life-Long Learners: Developing a lasting curiosity about the past and an understanding of how history has shaped the world we live in.

• I – Immersive: Exploring history through engaging enquiries, historical sources, artefacts, visits and meaningful learning experiences.

• V – Valuing Diversity: Understanding the experiences, achievements and perspectives of people from different periods, cultures and communities.

• E – Enquiring Minds: Asking thoughtful questions, evaluating evidence, considering different interpretations and developing informed historical judgements.

Intent: What do we want our pupils to learn?

At Bickerton Holy Trinity, our ambition is for every child to develop a secure, coherent and connected understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world.

Our carefully sequenced history curriculum develops both substantive knowledge (what pupils know about the past) and disciplinary knowledge (how historians investigate, interpret and construct accounts of the past).

We want children to understand not only what happened, but also how we know, why events happened and why they matter.

Our curriculum is organised around carefully identified Golden Threads – recurring historical concepts and ways of thinking that help children make meaningful connections between different periods, people and events.

These threads are revisited progressively, enabling pupils to deepen their understanding, recognise patterns and develop increasingly sophisticated historical thinking.

Our curriculum aims to ensure that pupils:

• Develop secure chronological knowledge and an understanding of significant periods, events and people.

• Understand and revisit important historical concepts, making connections across different periods and civilisations.

• Ask historically valid questions and investigate the past using a range of sources and evidence.

• Recognise similarities, differences, continuity and change across time.

• Explain causes and consequences of significant historical events and developments.

• Understand that the past can be interpreted in different ways and that historical accounts are constructed from evidence.

• Appreciate the diversity of human experiences and the contributions of different societies and individuals.

• Develop the vocabulary, confidence and independence to communicate historical understanding effectively.

Implementation: How do we teach History?

Our history curriculum has been specifically designed to meet the needs of our small rural school and mixed-age class structure.

We use a three-year rolling programme for our mixed-age teaching groups, with Year 6 following a dedicated programme that builds on prior learning.

Our curriculum planning carefully maps National Curriculum content, chronological understanding, substantive concepts and disciplinary knowledge to ensure that pupils experience a broad, balanced and progressive history education.

Because pupils may move between different class configurations during their primary education, we track curriculum coverage to ensure that children build on what they already know, avoid unnecessary repetition and access any essential content they have not previously studied.

This approach enables children to follow different learning pathways towards the same ambitious curriculum expectations.

Golden Threads: Connecting historical learning

Our Golden Threads provide a consistent framework for developing historical understanding across the school.

Substantive Golden Threads help pupils revisit important concepts across different historical periods, while disciplinary Golden Threads develop their understanding of how historians work.

Through carefully planned historical enquiries, pupils learn to:

• Establish chronology and make connections across time.

• Investigate historical evidence and consider its reliability and limitations.

• Identify similarities, differences, continuity and change.

• Explain causes and consequences.

• Explore historical significance and different interpretations.

• Construct explanations and justify conclusions using evidence.

These concepts are introduced in age-appropriate ways and revisited with increasing depth and complexity.

Rather than teaching historical skills in isolation, we develop disciplinary knowledge through the study of meaningful historical content.

History in the Early Years

In Reception, children begin to develop their understanding of the past through the EYFS area of Understanding the World.

Children explore their own lives, family histories, familiar routines and changes over time.

Through stories, photographs, artefacts, discussion and first-hand experiences, they begin to recognise differences between the past and present and develop early chronological vocabulary.

These experiences provide important foundations for historical learning in Key Stage 1.

History in Key Stage 1

In Years 1 and 2, pupils develop an awareness of the past and begin to place people and events within a chronological framework.

Through our rolling curriculum, children explore changes within living memory, significant events beyond living memory, the lives of significant individuals and aspects of local history.

They begin to ask questions about the past, use historical sources and recognise similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.

History in Key Stage 2

In Years 3, 4 and 5, our rolling curriculum provides opportunities to explore British history and significant civilisations and societies from the wider world.

Pupils build chronological understanding, deepen their substantive knowledge and develop increasingly sophisticated historical enquiries.

In Year 6, pupils draw together and extend their prior learning, making connections across historical periods and considering broader themes, developments and interpretations.

By the end of Key Stage 2, our aim is for all pupils to have accessed the required National Curriculum content and developed the knowledge and understanding needed for a successful transition to Key Stage 3.

High-quality teaching and inclusion

History is taught through carefully structured lessons that combine explicit teaching, historical enquiry, discussion and opportunities for independent thinking.

Teachers use retrieval practice, modelling, purposeful questioning and carefully selected sources to help pupils remember and apply their learning.

Our approach reflects the principles of Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision (OAIP), ensuring that all pupils, including those with SEND, can access ambitious historical content.

Vocabulary, visual resources, timelines, scaffolds and structured discussion support pupils in developing and communicating their understanding.

Impact: How do we know our History curriculum is successful?

The impact of our history curriculum is reflected in pupils' growing knowledge of the past and their ability to think, question and communicate as young historians.

We want pupils to:

• Know and remember more: Demonstrate secure knowledge of significant people, periods and events and make connections across their learning.

• Think historically: Use evidence, explain causes and consequences, identify change and continuity, and consider different interpretations.

• Use historical vocabulary confidently: Communicate their knowledge and construct increasingly well-supported explanations.

• Make meaningful connections: Apply their understanding of the Golden Threads across different historical contexts.

• Value diversity: Appreciate the experiences, perspectives and contributions of people from different societies and periods.

• Develop curiosity and independence: Ask thoughtful questions and show enthusiasm for exploring and understanding the past.

Through assessment, pupil discussion and the review of learning against clearly identified curriculum end points, teachers evaluate what pupils know, understand and can apply, using this information to inform future teaching.