Understanding the past through history

History helps children understand the people, events and ideas that have shaped the world in which they live.

At Waterloo, we want every child to develop a curiosity about the past and an increasingly secure understanding of chronology, change and human experience. History enables children to encounter people and societies beyond their immediate experience, examine evidence, consider different interpretations and make reasoned judgements.

Our curriculum is designed to develop:

• secure knowledge of significant people, events and periods;
• an increasingly coherent chronological framework;
• understanding of how societies develop and change;
• knowledge of local, British and world history;
• understanding of recurring historical concepts;
• confidence in asking and investigating historical questions;
• the ability to use sources as evidence;
• recognition that accounts of the past may differ;
• increasingly informed historical interpretations;
• accurate historical vocabulary;
• respect for the complexity and diversity of human experience;
• the ability to communicate historical explanations clearly.

Children learn both what happened in the past and how historians investigate and construct knowledge about it.

History is not simply the memorisation of dates and isolated facts. It is a disciplined way of understanding change, continuity, cause, consequence, similarity, difference, significance, evidence and interpretation.

Our curriculum approach

In Nursery and Reception, children’s early historical development is taught through Understanding the World: Past and Present within the United Learning Early Years Curriculum.

From Year 1 to Year 6 in mainstream classes, we use Ark Curriculum Plus History as the principal toolkit through which the National Curriculum is planned and taught.

In our specialist provisions, historical learning is developed through carefully selected and substantially adapted Cornerstones projects. The projects are reviewed annually to ensure breadth, progression, appropriate historical coverage and meaningful connections with the mainstream curriculum.

Together, these approaches provide:

• a coherent journey from children’s own lives and families into the more distant past;
• secure chronological knowledge;
• broad knowledge of local, British and world history;
• recurring substantive concepts that become increasingly complex;
• explicit development of historical disciplinary knowledge;
• purposeful use of sources and interpretations;
• opportunities to compare periods and societies;
• increasingly precise historical vocabulary;
• representation of diverse people, societies and experiences.

Curriculum resources support teaching but do not replace teachers’ professional judgement. Teachers remain responsible for checking prior knowledge, explaining new content clearly, selecting meaningful sources and adapting teaching so that all children can participate and make strong progress.

Our curriculum fulfils the aims of the National Curriculum for history, enabling children to gain coherent knowledge of the past, understand historical concepts, evaluate evidence and construct informed accounts.

History from Nursery to Year 6

Phase	What children learn	How children learn
Nursery	Their own life story and family; familiar routines; significant personal events; differences between babies, children and adults; early language relating to time and change.	Through conversation, family photographs, stories, objects, routines, role-play and first-hand experiences.
Reception	Similarities and differences between past and present; family and community history; significant people and occupations; historical characters, places and objects; early chronological language.	Through Understanding the World, explicit teaching, stories, photographs, artefacts, visits, discussion and purposeful continuous provision.
Years 1 and 2	Change within living memory; toys, transport and travel; the Great Fire of London; monarchy; significant people and their achievements.	Through Ark units, stories, artefacts, images, timelines, historical sources, direct teaching and enquiry.
Years 3 and 4	The Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages; Ancient Egypt; the Roman Empire and Roman Britain; Maya civilisation.	Through chronological study, historical narratives, maps, artefacts, written sources, archaeology, comparison and enquiry.
Years 5 and 6	Anglo-Saxons and Scots; Vikings; Baghdad and the Middle East; Ancient Greece; conflict and resolution.	Through increasingly complex sources, interpretation, comparison, historical argument and evaluation of evidence.
Specialist provision	Historical knowledge identified within annually selected Cornerstones projects, appropriate to children’s developmental stages, prior learning and individual needs.	Through adapted Cornerstones pedagogy, explicit teaching, stories, objects, photographs, sensory experiences, repetition and meaningful links with wider school learning.

History in the Early Years

Young children begin to understand the past through changes they can see and experiences that are meaningful to them.

In Nursery, children begin with themselves and their families. They talk about people who are important to them, photographs of their lives and events they remember.

They begin to:

• recognise members of their immediate and extended family;
• talk about familiar routines and significant personal events;
• understand that they were once babies;
• notice differences between babies, children and adults;
• talk about birthdays and other memorable occasions;
• recognise familiar occupations;
• use early language relating to time and sequence.

In Reception, children’s understanding of the past becomes more systematic. They encounter historical people, places and events through stories, images, objects and explicit teaching.

They learn to:

• distinguish between past and present;
• order familiar events;
• talk about change within their own lives;
• compare old and new photographs and objects;
• identify similarities and differences between past and present;
• discuss occupations and roles within their community;
• comment on historical characters encountered in books;
• compare images of people and places from different periods;
• use vocabulary such as now, then, before, after and a long time ago.

Learning takes place through:

• family and community photographs;
• stories and non-fiction;
• historical objects and replicas;
• role-play and small-world provision;
• visits and visitors;
• classroom timelines;
• discussion of routines and significant events;
• carefully selected images of the past.

Historical learning is not left to chance. Adults draw attention to evidence of change, introduce chronological language and help children distinguish between the past, the present and imagined worlds.

By the end of Reception, children understand that the past is different from the present and that stories, photographs, objects and people can help us find out about it. This provides an important foundation for Year 1 history.

History in Key Stage 1

In Years 1 and 2, children develop their understanding of chronology by beginning with changes within living memory before encountering significant events and people from further in the past.

Year group	Ark history units
Year 1	Toys Over Time; Transport and Travel
Year 2	The Great Fire of London; Kings and Queens; People Who Made a Difference

In Year 1, children investigate how toys, transport and travel have changed. Familiar objects and experiences help them understand that aspects of everyday life can change while others remain similar.

They use photographs, objects, oral accounts and other sources to compare past and present. Children develop chronological language and begin to place people, objects and events in order.

In Year 2, children move beyond living memory. Their study of the Great Fire of London introduces a nationally significant event and develops understanding of cause, consequence and evidence.

Through Kings and Queens, children learn about monarchy, power and change over time. People Who Made a Difference enables them to examine historical significance and consider why particular individuals and achievements are remembered.

Children in Key Stage 1 learn to:

• place familiar events and objects in chronological order;
• use words and phrases relating to the passing of time;
• recognise similarities and differences between periods;
• identify ways in which life has changed;
• ask and answer questions about the past;
• use stories, photographs, objects and written material as sources;
• identify simple causes and consequences;
• explain why a person or event may be significant;
• recognise that accounts of the past may differ;
• communicate what they have learned.

History in Key Stage 2

In Key Stage 2, children extend their chronological knowledge and study increasingly complex societies, events and developments.

Year group	Ark history units
Year 3	Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages; Ancient Egypt
Year 4	The Romans; Roman Britain; Maya Civilisation
Year 5	Anglo-Saxons and Scots; Vikings; Baghdad and the Middle East
Year 6	Ancient Greece; Conflict and Resolution

In Years 3 and 4, children move further back in time and encounter societies for which different types of evidence survive.

They study change in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and develop knowledge of settlement, migration, technology, trade and society. Ancient Egypt introduces a significant early civilisation and enables children to explore government, religion, power and social structure.

Their study of the Romans and Roman Britain develops understanding of empire, invasion, resistance, settlement and cultural change. The Maya civilisation enables children to compare a non-European society with other civilisations they have studied.

In Years 5 and 6, children examine the movement, settlement and interaction of peoples in Britain and beyond.

Their study of Anglo-Saxons, Scots and Vikings develops understanding of migration, invasion, monarchy, belief, settlement and competing interpretations. Baghdad and the Middle East introduces the achievements and influence of an important historical civilisation and broadens children’s knowledge beyond Europe.

Ancient Greece develops understanding of civilisation, democracy, conflict, society and cultural influence. Conflict and Resolution draws together knowledge of power, warfare, consequence and historical significance while requiring children to work with increasingly complex evidence and interpretations.

Children in Key Stage 2 learn to:

• place periods and events within an increasingly secure chronological framework;
• identify connections, contrasts and trends over time;
• use historical terms accurately;
• develop historically valid questions;
• explain causes and consequences;
• analyse change and continuity;
• compare societies and periods;
• judge historical significance;
• select and use relevant evidence;
• consider the origin, purpose and limitations of sources;
• distinguish between sources and interpretations;
• explain why interpretations may differ;
• construct informed historical accounts;
• communicate conclusions in speech and writing.

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge

Our history curriculum develops two connected forms of knowledge.

Substantive knowledge: what we know

Substantive knowledge is the established content children learn about the past. It includes people, events, periods, developments and recurring historical concepts.

Across the curriculum, children encounter 19 substantive concepts:

• chronology;
• civilisation;
• communication;
• conflict;
• defence;
• democracy;
• empire;
• government;
• invasion;
• migration;
• monarchy;
• peace;
• power;
• religion;
• settlement;
• society;
• technology;
• trade;
• warfare.

These concepts provide threads through the curriculum.

For example, children’s early understanding of rules and familiar leaders develops into knowledge of monarchy, government, democracy and the distribution of power. Their early knowledge of journeys and movement develops into more complex understanding of migration, invasion, settlement and empire.

Each concept becomes richer as children encounter it in different periods and contexts.

Disciplinary knowledge: how historians know

Disciplinary knowledge teaches children how historical knowledge is constructed, tested and communicated.

Our curriculum develops six connected disciplinary concepts.

Cause and consequence

Children identify why events and changes happened and what followed. They learn that historical developments often have multiple causes and consequences.

Continuity and change

Children examine what changed, what remained similar and the pace and extent of change.

Similarity and difference

Children compare people, societies and experiences within and across historical periods.

Significance

Children consider why particular people, events and developments are studied and remembered. They learn that significance is judged rather than simply possessed.

Evidence

Children use sources to make claims about the past. They consider what a source can reveal, how it was created and what its limitations may be.

Interpretation

Children learn that historians may construct different accounts of the same past. They examine how and why interpretations differ.

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge are taught together. Children need secure knowledge of a period before they can meaningfully explain its causes, evaluate its significance or assess competing interpretations.

Building historical knowledge over time

Historical knowledge is cumulative. Important concepts and disciplinary ideas are revisited at increasing levels of complexity.

For example:

• recognising that they were once babies develops into understanding chronology across increasingly distant periods;
• comparing old and new toys develops into analysing continuity and change within societies;
• noticing that transport has changed develops into examining how technology affects trade, migration, communication and warfare;
• learning about kings and queens develops into understanding monarchy, government, democracy and power;
• studying a single significant event develops into explaining events with multiple causes and consequences;
• using a photograph or object develops into evaluating the origin, purpose and limitations of different sources;
• recognising that two stories differ develops into analysing historical interpretations.

Children also develop an increasingly secure overview of the past.

Timelines are used regularly to help children:

• locate periods and events;
• understand duration;
• recognise overlap;
• connect British and world history;
• distinguish between ancient, medieval, early modern and modern history;
• identify broad patterns of change.

Chronology is not taught as an isolated skill. It provides the framework within which all other historical knowledge is organised.

Historical enquiry

Children learn that historians investigate questions about the past using evidence.

A historical enquiry may involve:

• asking a historically valid question;
• activating relevant prior knowledge;
• establishing the chronological context;
• examining a range of sources;
• identifying what each source can reveal;
• comparing and corroborating evidence;
• recognising gaps and limitations;
• considering different interpretations;
• constructing a conclusion;
• supporting claims with evidence;
• communicating findings clearly.

Enquiry is supported by secure knowledge. Children cannot evaluate evidence or interpretations effectively if they do not understand the historical context in which they were created.

Teachers therefore ensure that children are taught sufficient knowledge before expecting them to conduct more independent enquiry.

Sources, evidence and interpretation

Historical sources are traces of the past. They may include:

• objects and artefacts;
• buildings and monuments;
• photographs and paintings;
• maps;
• written records;
• diaries and letters;
• newspapers;
• oral accounts;
• archaeological remains;
• film and audio;
• digital records.

Children learn that a source does not simply tell us what happened. Historians ask questions about it and use contextual knowledge to interpret it.

As children progress, they consider:

• who created the source;
• when and where it was created;
• its purpose and intended audience;
• what it reveals;
• what it cannot reveal;
• how it compares with other evidence;
• whether it supports or challenges a claim.

Children also distinguish between a source from the past and a later interpretation of the past.

They learn that differing interpretations do not mean that any account is equally valid. Historical claims must be supported by evidence and informed by secure contextual knowledge.

Local history

Local history helps children understand that the past exists around them and that their community forms part of wider historical developments.

Waterloo and the wider local area provide opportunities to explore:

• changes in buildings, streets and land use;
• transport and travel;
• work and industry;
• migration and community;
• the coast and its influence;
• significant local people and events;
• war, remembrance and commemoration;
• connections between local, national and global history.

Children may use maps, photographs, buildings, memorials, records, oral accounts and visits to investigate the past.

Local history is not treated as separate from the wider curriculum. It helps children connect national and global developments with the experiences of people and places closer to home.

Our history pedagogy

Strong history teaching at Waterloo follows a number of common principles.

Secure chronological context

New learning is located within time. Teachers use timelines and prior knowledge to help children understand when a period occurred, what came before and after it and what was happening elsewhere.

Clear explanation and historical narrative

Teachers explain historical content in manageable steps and use carefully constructed narratives to show relationships between people, events and developments.

Stories support learning, but historical accounts are clearly distinguished from myths, legends and fiction.

Knowledge before enquiry

Children are taught sufficient contextual knowledge before they are asked to analyse complex sources or interpretations.

Without this knowledge, source work can become guesswork based only on what a source appears to show.

Purposeful use of sources

Sources are selected because they contribute to a historical question. Children are taught what the source is, why it matters and how it can be used as evidence.

Source work is not included simply to make a lesson appear investigative.

Retrieval and connection

Important people, events, dates and concepts are revisited regularly. Teachers explicitly connect new learning with previous periods and help children recognise recurring ideas and developments.

Responsive teaching

Teachers check understanding through questioning, discussion, chronology, comparison, explanation and children’s work.

Misconceptions are identified and addressed directly. These might include:

• treating all events in the past as equally distant;
• assuming that change happens suddenly or evenly;
• confusing myth with historical evidence;
• believing that one source provides a complete account;
• assuming that people within a society shared the same experiences;
• judging past actions without understanding their historical context.

Historical vocabulary and oracy

History has an increasingly specialised language. This can create a significant barrier for children with lower language starting points, SEND or EAL.

Vocabulary is explicitly selected, taught, modelled and revisited.

Children are supported to:

• pronounce historical names and terms accurately;
• connect vocabulary with periods, people and examples;
• use chronological language precisely;
• distinguish between everyday and historical meanings;
• describe change and continuity;
• explain causes and consequences;
• compare experiences and societies;
• make claims supported by evidence;
• consider interpretations respectfully;
• communicate conclusions in complete and coherent explanations.

As a Voice 21 Oracy School, we plan purposeful talk within history.

Children use:

• partner discussion;
• oral rehearsal;
• storytelling and retelling;
• sentence stems;
• source-based discussion;
• collaborative enquiry;
• debate;
• presentation;
• reasoned historical argument.

Talk enables children to organise chronology, test explanations, rehearse vocabulary and refine their understanding before communicating it in writing.

Representation and historical perspective

History introduces children to people whose lives, beliefs and experiences may differ significantly from their own.

Teachers select content, sources and interpretations that:

• represent women, men and children;
• include people from different social and cultural backgrounds;
• explore everyday life as well as rulers and conflict;
• recognise diversity within historical societies;
• represent local, British and world history;
• avoid presenting civilisations as uniform or static;
• challenge stereotypes and oversimplification;
• acknowledge whose voices survive within the historical record;
• consider whose experiences may be less visible.

Children learn that surviving evidence is uneven. The lives of powerful or literate people are often recorded more extensively than the lives of others.

Representation is purposeful and historically meaningful. Individuals are introduced where their experiences help children understand a period, development or historical question—not as disconnected additions.

History in specialist provision

Children in specialist provision share the same entitlement to understand the past and develop a sense of chronology, identity and change.

Historical learning is developed through carefully selected and adapted Cornerstones projects. These provide meaningful contexts through which children encounter people, events, communities, objects, stories and changes over time.

The project overview is reviewed annually to ensure:

• appropriate historical breadth and balance;
• cumulative development of chronology and historical knowledge;
• meaningful connections with the mainstream curriculum;
• opportunities to encounter local, British and world history;
• development of evidence and enquiry at an appropriate level;
• responsiveness to pupils’ developmental, communication, sensory and learning needs.

The precise sequence of projects may change, but children’s entitlement to purposeful and progressive historical learning remains consistent.

Cornerstones projects follow four connected stages:

• Engage: encountering a motivating object, image, story, person, visit or experience;
• Develop: explicitly learning essential historical knowledge and vocabulary;
• Innovate: applying knowledge to a question, comparison, sequence or practical situation;
• Express: revisiting and communicating learning in an accessible form.

Adaptation may include:

• personal and family photographs;
• real objects and replicas;
• sensory experiences connected to meaningful historical knowledge;
• visual timelines and now-and-then boards;
• symbols, signing and augmentative communication;
• repeated stories and historical narratives;
• reduced language alongside accurate historical vocabulary;
• smaller instructional steps;
• additional modelling and repetition;
• visits and familiar local contexts;
• alternative methods of responding and recording.

Depending upon their developmental stage, children may learn to:

• recognise themselves or a familiar person in an earlier photograph;
• anticipate a familiar sequence;
• distinguish between now and then;
• order two or more events;
• match an object or image to a period;
• identify something that has changed;
• recognise a similarity or difference;
• respond to a historical story;
• identify a significant person or event;
• use an object, photograph or account to answer a question;
• communicate a simple historical explanation.

Sensory experience is used as a route into historical understanding, not as a substitute for it. Handling an object, dressing in costume or entering a recreated environment should lead towards identifying, sequencing, comparing, questioning or communicating historical knowledge.

Where meaningful, specialist provision connects with mainstream units, visits, visitors and commemorative events. Inclusion means genuine access to historical ideas and shared experiences, not necessarily completing the same task or following the same unit at the same time.

Progress may be demonstrated through increased attention, recognition, anticipation, sequencing, matching, comparing, recalling, questioning, selecting evidence, communicating or explaining.

Adaptation and inclusion in mainstream history

All children should encounter an ambitious history curriculum.

Teachers identify barriers and adapt teaching through:

• pre-teaching and revisiting vocabulary;
• visual timelines;
• photographs, artefacts and concrete representations;
• carefully selected stories and narratives;
• chunked explanations;
• additional modelling;
• sentence stems and talk frames;
• supported reading;
• reduced source complexity without removing the historical focus;
• alternative methods of recording;
• additional processing time;
• retrieval and repetition;
• targeted adult support.

Adaptation should increase participation, understanding and independence. It should not routinely remove historical content or replace it with an unrelated activity.

Children may demonstrate historical understanding through talk, sequencing, selection, comparison, drawing, mapping, modelling or supported communication as well as through writing.

Assessment

Assessment identifies what historical knowledge children have secured and how effectively they can use it.

Teachers use:

• questioning and discussion;
• retrieval activities;
• timelines and sequencing;
• historical vocabulary;
• children’s oral and written explanations;
• source analysis;
• comparison tasks;
• diagrams and maps;
• end-of-unit enquiry questions;
• knowledge quizzes and records;
• children’s independent application.

Teachers consider whether children can:

• recall important people, events and developments;
• locate periods and events chronologically;
• use historical vocabulary accurately;
• connect learning with previous study;
• explain causes and consequences;
• identify change and continuity;
• compare people, periods or societies;
• make a reasoned judgement about significance;
• use a source to support a claim;
• recognise the limitations of evidence;
• explain why interpretations may differ;
• construct a conclusion supported by knowledge and evidence;
• apply historical understanding in a new context.

Assessment does not depend upon extended writing alone. Children may demonstrate knowledge through talk, timelines, source selection, diagrams, maps, models, role-play or alternative communication.

In specialist provision, assessment identifies meaningful development in chronology, historical knowledge, communication and independence.

What success looks like

Our history curriculum is successful when children:

• are curious about the past;
• remember important historical knowledge;
• possess an increasingly secure chronological framework;
• understand significant people, events and developments;
• recognise connections between historical periods;
• identify change, continuity, similarity and difference;
• explain causes and consequences;
• make reasoned judgements about significance;
• use historical vocabulary accurately;
• ask meaningful historical questions;
• use sources as evidence;
• recognise the limitations of historical sources;
• understand that interpretations may differ;
• communicate historical explanations clearly;
• recognise diversity within past societies;
• connect local, British and world history;
• make strong progress from their individual starting points;
• leave Waterloo ready for the historical demands of secondary education.

Above all, we want children to understand that history is an evidence-informed interpretation of the human past. Through secure knowledge, chronological understanding and disciplined enquiry, children learn not only what happened, but how we know, why it mattered and why accounts of the past may differ.