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.