Our History Curriculum

At our school, the teaching of History aims to inspire curiosity and a love of learning about the past. Our intent is to provide enriching and immersive experiences that bring History to life, helping children understand how people, places, and events have shaped the world we live in today. Our curriculum celebrates diversity, ensuring pupils encounter a wide range of cultures, perspectives, and historical voices. By teaching through historical enquiry, our intention is for pupils to think critically, ask meaningful questions, and develop balanced interpretations of the past. Encourage opportunities for collaboration to help build confidence and deepen group enquiry.  

We intent to: 

• Help pupils develop a deep curiosity about the past through rich experiences such as storytelling, drama, timelines, and debate that encourage them to question, explore, and make sense of historical change 

• Provide appropriate challenge, ensuring every pupil can access and succeed through an inclusive, adaptive curriculum that stretches their thinking and deepens their understanding 

• Create a strong sense of community by connecting pupils with their local heritage while broadening their awareness of national and global histories, helping them understand their place in the world 

• Foster creativity by enabling pupils to express and deepen their historical understanding through cross curricular links, outdoor learning, and varied forms of historical enquiry 

• Inspire pupils through discussion, debate, and shared enquiry to promote collaboration, allowing pupils to work together to interpret evidence, build knowledge, and make meaningful connections over time. 

How do we teach History? 

Our history curriculum is ambitious, inclusive, and carefully sequenced so that all pupils build a deep and connected understanding of the past. Knowledge and skills accumulate progressively to deepen their disciplinary and substantive knowledge as they progress through the school. 

Lessons follow a clear structure with explicit modelling, retrieval practice and opportunities for collaboration, helping pupils strengthen long term memory and engage confidently with enquiry questions. History and Geography are delivered in a complementary way across each half term, allowing pupils to make meaningful connections between the two subjects. More advanced concepts, such as government and democracy, are introduced in Upper Key Stage 2, particularly when pupils study complex historical units such as World War Two. High quality resources, including knowledge organisers and carefully chosen texts, support pupils in recalling prior learning and making links across the wider curriculum. Pupils work from a shared starting point to answer the same key enquiry questions.   

Assessment is woven throughout teaching to check understanding, identify misconceptions and inform personalised planning so that every pupil, can access and succeed within the curriculum.  Classrooms and shared spaces are designed to promote curiosity, independence and collaborative enquiry, with displays and accessible resources reinforcing key concepts and supporting pupils to become informed, reflective citizens who can use the past to understand the world around them.   

Progression of skills and knowledge 

At Highfields Primary School, historical knowledge and skills are introduced progressively and revisited across different units and contexts. Our curriculum has been designed to deepen core historical concepts and pupils’ knowledge of key content areas. The progression of disciplinary knowledge, substantiative knowledge and historical skills are carefully mapped out in our progression document and long-term plan. 

Core Historical Concepts (Disciplinary Knowledge): 

• Chronology: Understanding the sequence of events, using timelines, and knowing historical periods.  

• Change & Continuity: How things have stayed the same and evolved over time.  

• Cause & Consequence: Why events happened and their impact.  

• Similarity & Difference: Comparing lives and events in different times and places.  

• Significance: Identifying what makes events, people, or developments important.  

• Historical Enquiry: Asking questions, using evidence, and interpreting sources.   

Key Content Areas (Substantiative knowledge): 

• Significant People: Lives of influential figures (e.g., monarchs, inventors, explorers).  

• Events: Major events like the Great Fire of London, the first flight, or national/global conflicts.  

• Cultures & Civilisations: Studying past societies (e.g., Ancient Egyptians, Romans).  

• Periods: From prehistory through ancient, medieval, and modern history.  

• Themes of Life: How people lived (homes, work, beliefs, technology, politics, trade) 

Use of historical timelines gives pupils a clear chronological framework, helping them connect new learning to what they have studied before and across different subjects.   

When History is not taught discretely, learning is reinforced through regular retrieval, cross curricular links and assemblies that highlight significant events such as Remembrance Day and Black History Month. These moments allow pupils to revisit key vocabulary, strengthen prior knowledge and place new ideas on the shared class historical timelines.  

How do we make History real and relevant? 

At Highfields, our focus is on bringing history to life and making it meaningful within the context of our local area. Our teaching is closely aligned with our cultural capital and local heritage, with carefully chosen topics that explore the rich history of our Manningtree community. Given our proximity to the River Stour and the East Coast, our curriculum also reflects our local sailing heritage.  

In KS1, History is real and relevant because pupils learn about their local maritime heritage through the story of the Mayflower, helping them see that important historical events began close to home. 

In Lower Key Stage 2, pupils explore the significance of the Anglo-Saxon era, visiting real archaeological sites and settlements. At West Stow, our Year 3 and 4 classes investigate the burial grounds and use their observational skills to identify Anglo-Saxon designs, runic patterns and early writing systems. We further enrich our curriculum through visits to significant local historical sites, including the extensive Roman remains at Camulodunum (modern day Colchester), the first capital of Roman Britain.  

In Upper Key Stage 2, pupils study the cause and consequence of the witchcraft trials in Manningtree. Pupils also explore the local impact of the Second World War, learning how nearby Harwich prepared for invasion. These enquiries help pupils connect national events to their own locality and see history as meaningful to their lives. 

Regular trips to historical sites and museums allow pupils to handle artefacts and explore collections linked to their unit of study. Working with expert external providers such as History Off the Page, we offer immersive experiences that allow pupils not only to learn about the past, but to live it. Our school hall is transformed into settings such as an Egyptian pharaoh’s court or 17thcentury London, where pupils participate in a full day of crafts, drama and roleplay. These experiences are designed to be inclusive and accessible for all learners, ensuring every child can engage meaningfully with the content, regardless of their starting point or learning needs.   

Together, our blend of digital innovation, hands on exploration and inclusive practice creates memorable learning experiences that deepen historical understanding and support the successful implementation of our History curriculum.  

How do we make Design & Technology accessible to all pupils? 

Our ambition is for all pupils to access the same rich, broad and balanced History curriculum. Adaptive teaching and key questioning ensure every pupil can contribute and demonstrate understanding. Digital technology further supports accessibility, allowing pupils to explore and present historical learning in creative ways. Pupils working above expectations are encouraged to work with greater independence and make choices about how they learn and communicate their knowledge.  

How do we integrate technology to enhance teaching and learning? 

Technology is used purposefully within our History curriculum to make the past vivid, immersive and meaningful for all pupils. Through platforms such as LGfL and BusyThings, pupils access high-quality digital resources that deepen their understanding of historical events, people and places. We use tools such as Sandbox to recreate historical environments in highly immersive ways. When studying Ancient Egypt, for example, pupils design and build their own pyramids, adding details, artefacts and features that bring the period to life to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of pyramid tombs and burial practices. This VR style experience is fully accessible to all learners and allows pupils to explore historical concepts through creative construction, problem solving and visualisation. By enabling children to step into the past and interact with it digitally, we deepen their understanding of historical settings, structures and daily life in a way that traditional resources alone cannot achieve.    

We also make use of inhouse iPad apps that allow pupils to label and analyse historical photographs, helping them develop key enquiry skills. By creating a digital footprint of their work through QR codes, pupils can document their thinking and revisit their learning over time. These QR codes can be scanned by children, teachers and parents, enabling everyone to explore the learning journey, ask questions and reflect on how historical understanding has developed. This approach strengthens historical enquiry, supports retrieval and makes learning visible beyond the classroom.   

Pupils also use iPads and greenscreen technology to enrich their historical learning. With apps such as iMovie, they recreate past events, step into historical settings and present their ideas through film, narration and imagery. This approach helps them visualise difficult concepts, consider different viewpoints and communicate their understanding in creative, engaging ways. By integrating these tools into lessons, we turn historical content into vivid experiences that feel immediate and memorable. historical enquiry, we bring the past to life and ensure that every learner can engage with history in an accessible, exciting and meaningful way.  

How do we measure the impact of our History Curriculum? 

Assessment in history at Highfields is continuous and woven throughout every lesson. Teachers use live marking, verbal feedback, key questioning and observation to check understanding in real time, address misconceptions and adapt teaching immediately. This responsive approach ensures that all pupils can access the learning and make progress, regardless of their starting point.  

Evidence of learning is gathered primarily in pupils’ history books, where written work, images and annotated practical activities demonstrate the breadth of the curriculum. End of unit quizzes, based on the key vocabulary and knowledge from our Knowledge Organisers, provide a quick summative check and support pupils’ retrieval of important information.   

Together, these approaches allow teachers to monitor progress effectively, identify where learning needs to be revisited or deepened, and ensure that all pupils are supported and challenged appropriately.