History

History intent and overview

History Curriculum Intent Statement

At Churchfield Church School, we are historians. Our intent is to deliver a rich, engaging, and ambitious history curriculum that inspires curiosity about the past and helps children understand how history shapes the present and future. We want pupils to develop a secure knowledge of significant people, events, and periods, while building the skills to think critically, ask questions, and make connections across time.

Our curriculum is designed to:

Align with the National Curriculum by teaching chronological understanding, knowledge of significant events, and historical enquiry skills.

Encourage curiosity and questioning, enabling children to investigate the past and consider different perspectives.

Build progression of skills from EYFS through KS1 and KS2, ensuring children revisit and deepen prior learning.

Develop historical vocabulary, helping pupils to communicate ideas clearly and confidently.

Foster respect for diversity and heritage, encouraging children to appreciate how different cultures and communities have contributed to history.

Promote critical thinking, enabling pupils to evaluate sources, evidence, and interpretations.

Skills by Key Stage

End of Key Stage 1 (Years 1–2)

By the end of KS1, children should be able to:

Develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to time.

Know where people and events they study fit within a chronological framework.

Identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.

Use a range of sources to ask and answer simple questions about the past.

Understand key events beyond living memory (e.g. The Great Fire of London).

Learn about significant individuals who contributed to national and international achievements.

End of Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3–4)

By the end of Lower KS2, children should be able to:

Place events, people, and changes on a timeline with increasing accuracy.

Use historical terms such as empire, civilisation, parliament, peasantry.

Understand connections between local, national, and international history.

Ask and answer more complex questions, selecting and organising relevant information.

Use a wider range of sources, including artefacts, documents, and oral accounts.

Study periods such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire, making comparisons with modern life.

End of Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5–6)

By the end of Upper KS2, children should be able to:

Develop a chronologically secure knowledge of British, local, and world history.

Note connections, contrasts, and trends over time.

Use historical vocabulary with confidence (e.g. monarchy, democracy, invasion, migration, trade).

Construct informed responses using evidence to support claims.

Understand how evidence is used to make historical claims and recognise that interpretations may differ.

Carry out independent enquiries, using a range of sources critically.
Study themes such as World War II, the Victorians, and non-European societies, making connections across time and place.

Curriculum Coverage

History.pdf