Curriculum Intent

Our History curriculum has been thoughtfully developed to be ambitious and empowering.

Through the careful planning of engaging topics, children create long lasting memories of their learning. Our key questions have been coherently planned to stimulate pupils’ curiosity in the world around them and promotes a respect for beliefs, behaviour and characteristics of people and events from the past whilst encouraging critical and creative thinking.

We provide children with opportunities to explore local historical areas of interest, for example Warwick Castle, RAF Cosford and Blists Hill. Our History curriculum understands the importance of the Historical world and the people who have left a legacy on the way that we live today (eg. Roman names and buildings, Iron Age settlements and Ancient Greek democracy.)

Pupils draw upon prior knowledge and identify key links with historical time periods, events and significant individuals studied in previous years. 5 Historical skills are also developed upon: Chronological awareness, knowledge and understanding, historical enquiry, Historical interpretation and communicating and presenting.

Knowledge of specific time periods are further developed through our wider curriculum. Our topics have been coherently planned to develop a range of cross curricular links between History and wider foundation subjects. Our writing curriculum also has links with the History long-term planning so that pupils can use and apply their historical knowledge, understanding and skills across a range of genres. Deliberately planned writing activities provide excellent opportunities for pupils to be creative and as a result, we intend for pupils to make long lasting memory links to progress on to the next stage of their education and future life experiences.

Click here to view the National Curriculum for History.

Early Years 

Children begin to learn about their immediate history and those of their families. They celebrate significant events such as birthdays and other personal milestones through their celebration assembly. Children follow the chronology of events in the British calendar such as Bonfire Night and Remembrance Sunday as well as a diverse number of other significant cultural events such as Diwali, Eid and Passover. Using the online learning journal (Tapestry), parents are encouraged to share their own celebratory times so children can develop a sense of personal history. Children develop the knowledge and understanding of change over time through photographs of the immediate locality and through stories. 

Year 1

Children will learn about a range of people who have changed the world they live in. Through their space topic, they will find out about astronauts and computer coders from the past and present, such as Tim Peake and Margaret Hamilton. They will explore important events that have shaped their traditions today such as the moon landing and the gunpowder plot. They will go on an educational visit to a local Castle to investigate how people lived in the past and compare this to their own lives today. The children will learn about the lives of the British monarchy from past to present including King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth II. During their oceans topic, they will look at significant events such as the sinking of the Titanic, the heroic acts of Grace Darling and swashbuckling pirates, such as Black Beard and Grace O’Malley.

Year 2

Children will learn about and explore the events which led to the Great Fire of London. They will consider how it impacted on the capital city and how this catastrophic event compelled change in city design to make London a safer place. They consider how different sources, including the diary of Samuel Pepys and various news reports, provide the knowledge required to be able to recount the key events. Pupils also find out how homes have changed over the past 150 years and investigate how domestic technology has evolved. This topic is brought to life through a visit to the National Trust back-to-back houses in Birmingham where the children experience how local houses differed from their own and the reasons for this.

Year 3

Children complete an archaeological hunt, using their investigative skills to determine what artefacts may be, what the artefacts may have been used for, and how we can learn about history from them. The children complete a timeline to understand the chronology of British history, and pique their curiosity in the topic. They learn about the Roman invasion of Britain and about the Celtic way of life prior to the Romans' arrival and how England changed during the occupation, considering the affect this legacy has left on life today. They also find out about Boudicca's revolt, and how a historical event can be viewed in different ways depending on personal bias.

Pupils also learn about Egypt, looking at a timeline of important events and comparing this to the Roman period. They find out about ancient Egyptian civilisation and the importance of the Nile to ancient Egyptians. Through class work as well as research, pupils further explore the Egyptian Gods, the pyramids, and the mummification process. The children visit Birmingham Museum to see real-life Ancient Egyptian collections and learn about how they were curated and why. 

Year 4

Children will learn about the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England. They will investigate the Vikings using a range of primary and secondary sources, considering their reliability, and understand the reasons for the invasion. They will also find out about the longer term influence the Vikings had on the United Kingdom investigating how their culture resides with local communities today. The children will also explore the Tudors understanding how they fit into the chronology of British history. Pupils will learn about the War of the Roses and hold a debate to ascertain the rightful ruler of England. They will then consider the reign of Henry VIII identifying how he affected religion, linking this idea with explaining why he married six times. 

Year 5

Children study various periods of history, including Ancient Greece and the Victorian Era. The children are given the opportunity to compare and contrast life during these two time periods with their experience of the modern day. During their study of Ancient Greece, the children learn about key events, daily life and how Ancient Greek civilisation still influences the world they live in. As part of the topic, they have an immersive Ancient Greek Day where they experience music, food and traditions such as grape crushing. Pupils investigate the Victorian era, focusing on and making contrasts with the local history of Solihull and its surrounding areas. They will use a range of sources, including census returns and maps to learn about the development of Solihull, specifically the expansion of the town during the Victorian era as a result of new railways being constructed. During their geography field work in Wales, they expand their historical understanding of Victorian seaside towns and how the railways made places such as Llandudno more accessible to a wider range of society.    

Year 6

Children will cover a variety of dates and eras, ranging all the way back to the Stone and Iron ages, through to the period of The Great War and finally into an in-depth study of World War II. 

Whilst learning about the Stone Age, children will learn about the development of civilisation during this era, including the challenges faced by stone age men and women and make comparisons with modern day life. Cross-curricular activities will also find children creating their own authentic Stone-Age recipes; analysing maps to show how human habitation changed during this period; producing realistic cave drawings whilst also examining the history of cave art and also, discovering which creatures existed in the Stone Age and exploring the evolution of some of these animals.  

As the children learn about World War I, they will analyse a range of poetry – both first-hand accounts from soldiers in the trenches, as well as more modern poetry written after the war had ended. Pupils will learn about why World War I began; which countries were involved and how the end of the war influenced and shaped the future of the world they live in. 
World War II will seek to expand on the knowledge that pupils have gained from their World War I topic, showing children how the repercussions of The Great War fed directly into the origins of the conflict. Throughout this topic, children will explore ‘Life in Britain’ in great detail through their own research; examine primary and secondary resources and artefacts; use a variety of engaging text stimuli and attend an educational visit to Weston Park, where they will create their own gas masks and identity cards. Additionally, they will also have the opportunity to explore a real-life Anderson shelter and experience an authentic air raid siren. Furthermore, children will complete map-work to locate the countries involved and learn about the causes and developments of the conflict. Children will also investigate the various jobs people played during the war such as air raid wardens, nurses, engineers and teachers. For children who participate in the residential visit to France, they will spend one day visiting historical museums in Dunkirk and Ypres.