History Subject Leader: Ms T Soroh
History helps our pupils to appreciate the complexity and diversity of human societies and development. Pupils are given the opportunity to look back at human experiences across time and place, to fully understand their place in the world; exploring rights and wrongs, morals and ethics.
Intent
At Whitehill Primary School, our intent is that the teaching of history will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We aim to inspire curiosity about the past and foster a desire to find out more about historical moments, people, and events. Through history, pupils are encouraged to ask critical questions, think perceptively, and develop perspective and judgement.
Our curriculum enables children to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, and the diversity of societies and relationships across time. It also helps pupils explore culture, beliefs, and values, allowing them to understand themselves, their family and community, and their place within the local area, the nation, and the wider world. Pupils are taught to recognise the validity of different forms of historical evidence, including primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, and to use this evidence to support their understanding.
Through a high-quality history education, pupils develop a sense of chronology and an appreciation for how past events and people have shaped the world today. They learn about significant events and individuals in British history, the wider European context, and aspects of global history. Teaching also encourages learning beyond the classroom, through visitors, trips, and interactive displays, helping pupils to engage actively and meaningfully with history.
Our overarching aim is to foster a lifelong interest in history, equipping children with the knowledge, skills, and curiosity to explore the past, think critically about evidence, and understand the world they live in today.
Implementation
The History curriculum is delivered through a carefully mapped progression, based on the History Learning Progression Document. Teachers use long-term and medium-term planning to ensure that, across the school, pupils build on prior learning in a coherent, sequenced manner, covering locational knowledge, chronological understanding, enquiry skills, interpretation of evidence, and knowledge of British, European and international history.
Each history unit begins with opportunities for children to revisit prior knowledge, develop vocabulary and understanding of key historical concepts (such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, significance), and then builds through enquiry-led lessons that use a variety of sources (stories, artefacts, documents, images, maps) to explore people, events, societies and change over time. Where possible, lessons integrate cross-curricular links; for example with geography (place and environment), literacy (reading, writing, discussion), art (drawing or representing periods), or PSHE (understanding community, identity, change); to deepen understanding and make learning meaningful.
Teachers differentiate tasks to meet the needs of all pupils, ensuring that every child can access history learning. Pupils are encouraged to ask critical questions, discuss and reflect on what they learn, and record their ideas in a range of ways (writing, drawings, timelines, annotated maps, comparative tables). Learning is scaffolded so that as children progress through year groups they acquire increasingly sophisticated knowledge, vocabulary, and historical enquiry skills, underpinned by the progression document.
Visits, local history studies, displays, role‑play or immersive experiences are used when appropriate to bring history alive, helping pupils connect their learning to real places, people and local heritage. This practical and enquiry‑focused approach ensures that history is taught not just as facts, but as a dynamic subject in which pupils think and act like historians.
Impact
Through our structured History programme, pupils develop a deep, growing understanding of past people, events, societies and change over time. Teachers use ongoing assessment, through observation, class discussion, review of recorded work, and pupil responses, to inform planning, lesson design, and differentiation. This ensures that misconceptions are addressed, learning is reinforced, and all pupils have the opportunity to make progress at their own pace.
At the end of each unit, teachers make informed judgements about pupil attainment relative to age‑related expectations, and monitor progress over time. Across the year, the quality of history teaching and learning is reviewed using a set of monitoring strategies including lesson observations, book‑looks, staff questionnaires and pupil interviews. This helps the History subject leader evaluate how well the curriculum is implemented, how effectively pupils are learning, and whether the history provision meets the needs of all learners.
The impact of this approach is evident in pupils’ historical knowledge, their ability to ask perceptive questions, their understanding of historical concepts (cause / effect, continuity, change, diversity, significance), and their confidence in using evidence from a range of sources to support explanations. Pupils grow in chronological awareness, cultural and societal understanding, and empathy for people in past societies. Many will develop a lifelong interest in history, informed judgement about historical sources, and a sense of connection to their local, national and global heritage.
History in Each Stage
Children begin to explore history by noticing and discussing changes over time in their own lives and environment. They talk about family, community and familiar events, developing early vocabulary associated with past and present, personal history, and their local surroundings. Through stories, pictures, and play-based activities, they begin to understand that people, places and ways of living change over time.
Pupils begin to build basic historical knowledge and chronological awareness. They learn about simple changes over time, differences between past and present, and explore how people’s lives and communities have changed. Using stories, pictures and artefacts, they ask and answer simple questions about the past, recognise different sources of information, and start to understand that the past is represented in many forms. They develop confidence in talking about historical events, people and ways of life different to their own, and begin to appreciate continuity and change.
Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 & 4)
In Lower KS2, children’s historical enquiry becomes more developed. They study events, societies and periods with increasing depth and complexity. They compare different periods, identify cause and consequence, use a range of sources to investigate questions, and think about how and why societies change over time. They begin to understand broader contexts, local, national and global, and appreciate diversity of peoples and cultures. Their chronological understanding deepens, as does their historical vocabulary and confidence in making connections across time and place.
Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 & 6)
By Upper KS2, pupils engage with history in a mature and reflective way. They examine significant events and civilizations, both in British and world history; probe deeper questions about change, continuity, influence, legacy and diversity; and evaluate different types of historical evidence. Pupils draw comparisons across time and between societies, consider how the past shapes the present, and recognise the complexity of historical interpretation. They are able to articulate informed perspectives, use evidence to support judgements, and understand their own identity and place within a broader historical and global context.
History Progression
Inclusion & Equal Opportunities
At Whitehill Primary we teach history to all children, whatever their ability. History forms part of the school curriculum policy to provide a broad and balanced education to all children.
Through our history teaching we provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make progress. We do this by setting suitable learning challenges and responding to each child’s different needs. When progress falls significantly outside the expected range, the child may have special educational needs. A range of factors are looked at including; classroom organisation, teaching materials, differentiation and support if available. This ensures that our teaching is matched to the child’s needs.
Challenge is important for every child, including the more able. By being given enhancing and enriching activities that deepen their knowledge and understanding. Alongside specific questioning throughout a lesson, this will encourage children to think more critically and create their own questions regarding different parts of history.
Enrichment & Beyond the Classroom
Where possible, people with an interest, or expertise, in a particular topic or area of history could be invited into school to work with the children. These might be parents, grandparents, other family members, neighbours or representatives of the local community. Historical studies may also lead to fieldwork and visits to places of historical interest.