Similarly to Science and Geography, History is taught through an enquiry-based approach. Children explore, investigate and answer questions in order to gain knowledge and understanding of a given topic, local, national or worldwide. Each topic helps to build upon children’s current knowledge and skills. The teacher plans for cross-curricular links across other subjects such as Art and Design to enhance this learning further. A wide range of visits and visitors support this learning.
History in the EYFS
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports children’s understanding of History through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World’. This aspect is about how children find out about past and present events in their own lives, their families and other people they know. Children are encouraged to develop a sense of change over time and are given opportunities to differentiate between past and present by observing routines throughout the day, growing plants, observing the passing of seasons and time and looking at photographs of their life and of others. Practitioners encourage investigative behaviour and raise questions such as, ‘What do you think?’, ‘Tell me more about?’, ‘What will happen if..?’, ‘What else could we try?’, ‘What could it be used for?’ and ‘How might it work?’ Use of language relating to time is used in daily routines and conversations with children for example, ‘yesterday’, ‘old’, ‘past’, ‘now’ and ‘then’.History in KS1 and KS2
History in Ks1 and KS2
Please have a read of our Humanities overview below.
For each of the units, we have created Knowledge Organisers to highlight the key concepts, facts and vocabulary our children will know and understand by the end of a unit. We build upon children’s vocabulary each year when developing key skills within History.
Year 1
- Why are my toys more fun than my grandparents’ toys?
- Why was mining so important to our area?
- Have we always liked to be beside the seaside?
Year 2
- Why are Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong important?
- How did some of our traditions start?
- What would we find exciting about our local area?
Year 3
Year 4
- Why do we remember the Ancient Greeks?
- Why were the Romans in Durham?
- Were the Saxons really smashing?
Year 5
Year 6
Events
Throughout the year, we hold events in school to celebrate historical figures and events, not to mention to understand and raise awareness of important geographical issues such as climate change.
Some of last year’s events included:
- Black History Month
- International Women’s Day
- Remembrance Day
- National Recycling Week
- Holocaust Memorial Day
- Climate Week
Our work
Please take a look at the progression of our children’s work in History from EYFS to Y6.
