Curriculum Intent
Our history curriculum aims to develop pupils’ curiosity and understanding of the past, helping them to build a chronological and coherent sense of history from the earliest times to the present day. We want children to gain a rich knowledge of how people lived, the events that shaped their lives, and how these have influenced the world we live in today.
Through well-sequenced units, children learn to make connections between people, places, and events across different time periods, including those within their local area. The will begin to develop an understanding how their community fits within wider historical contexts.
Our intent is for all pupils to become critical thinkers who can question evidence, consider different perspectives, and draw reasoned conclusions about the past. By combining substantive knowledge (the key facts, people, and events) with disciplinary knowledge (the skills to think and work like historians), children build the foundations for lifelong learning and curiosity.
Curriculum Implementation
The units covered in Year 1 to 6 follow the requirements of the National Curriculum KS1 and KS2 learning objectives for history.
There are key substantive threads that run through the history topics covered from Year 1 to Year 6. This allows children to build on and consolidate prior knowledge and to develop an understanding of history concepts such as continuity and change. Our key threads are:
- Society, including culture
- Settlement
- Leadership, including power
- Invasion
- Religion
Within our History lessons, we will ensure that both our pupils’ substantive and disciplinary knowledge is built upon year on year.
Substantive Knowledge – This refers to the factual and conceptual content of our history curriculum — the people, places, events, dates, and ideas that form the foundations of historical understanding. It represents the essential knowledge within each unit, enabling pupils to develop a coherent and connected picture of the past.
Disciplinary Knowledge – This refers to the skills children develop to interpret and understand the past. It helps them make sense of the substantive knowledge (the historical content) by exploring questions such as “How do historians know what they know?” Through this, pupils learn to think like historians — developing the ability to analyse evidence, question reliability, identify and explain interpretations, make comparisons across time periods, and draw reasoned conclusions. These skills are carefully built upon throughout the school, forming the foundations that connect our history curriculum and help pupils become confident, critical thinkers with lifelong learning skills.
Curriculum Impact
By the end of each key stage, children will have developed a secure knowledge and understanding of the key people, places, and events studied. Their substantive knowledge is strengthened through regular opportunities to revisit and recall prior learning — such as flashback activities — and by making meaningful links between different historical periods and units.
Pupils will also grow in confidence as young historians, developing their disciplinary knowledge — the skills needed to think critically about the past. They will learn to question evidence, present and justify their ideas, and deepen their understanding through historical enquiry.
Through progressive teaching and learning, children will confidently apply and refine their skills across the following key areas:
Chronology – developing a sense of when events happened and how periods of history relate to one another.
Similarities and Differences – comparing ways of life, beliefs, and cultures across time.
Change and Continuity – recognising patterns of change and aspects that have remained the same.
Cause and Consequence – understanding why events happened and what impact they had.
Historical Enquiry – asking questions, interpreting sources, and forming reasoned conclusions.
As a result, pupils leave each phase with a connected understanding of history, an appreciation of how the past shapes the present, and the confidence to think critically about the world around them.
Our Knowledge Blocks
History is taught in the first half of the Autumn term, the second half of the Spring term and finally in the first half of the Summer term, with some of the topics spanning across two of these half terms.
Please see below the knowledge blocks your child will be learning about in history during their time at Dovedale School. Each topic has its own overarching enquiry question. Click on the icons to see the knowledge organisers that your child will use to support them in class, full of lots of the knowledge your child will be learning within their lessons.
We encourage you to spend a little time exploring the knowledge organisers with your child. It’s a wonderful opportunity to share in their learning, spark curiosity, and talk together about new ideas. Hopefully they can impress you with all they already know, you can enjoy discovering something new alongside them or even offering them some further knowledge that they can share with their peers.
EYFS:
History follows a slightly different path in EYFS, encompassed within their 'understanding of the world' area. It involves developing children's understanding of the past and present through personal experiences, family stories, observing change, and engaging with history through books and objects, rather than formal history lessons.
At Dovedale, children will learn to differentiate between what is happening now and what happened before, the 'history of themselves' and also the lives of their parents and grandparents. They will have lots of opportunities to look at and discuss old objects or artefacts to provide a hands-on way to learn about previous eras, alongside photos of the child or family and stories about past events to help make the concept of the past more concrete.
The early historical skills developed in the EYFS, such as chronological understanding and investigating the past, provide a foundation for the more formal history curriculum in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Some of the topics covered: History of themselves, dinosaurs, Mary Anning, Grace Darling, toys, King Charles and Queen Elizabeth, events that have been celebrated for many years: e.g. St.Valentine's Day, Easter, Pancake Day, Mother's day and much more!
Year 1:
-Why do we remember the 5th November? (The Gunpowder Plot - beyond living memory)
-How have toys changed in the past 100 years? (The history of toys - within living memory)
-How did humans learn to fly? (The history of flight and the moon landings - within and beyond living memory)
Year 2:
-How do we know what happened during the Great Fire of London?; What were the consequences of the fire? (The Great Fire of London)
-What was life like in Victorian Britain? (The Victorians)
-Did the development of transport impact life in Long Eaton during Victorian Britain? (Local history topic)
Year 3:
-Where and when did the earliest civilisations begin? (Ancient Egypt)
-How have the Ancient Greeks influenced the Western World? (Ancient Greece)
Year 4:
-Stone Age to Iron Age
-Which of the Roman achievements had the most significant impact on Britain? (The Roman Empire)
Year 5:
-Who were the Scots and Anglo Saxons? (Britain's settlement by Anglo Saxons and Scots)
-How did the struggle for power impact the Saxons?
-Is our view of the Vikings accurate? (The Vikings and Anglo Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England)
Year 6:
-Ancient Maya
-The Industrial Revolution 1790-1840
-The Industrial Revolution (Local history topic)