At Alkerden CE Academy Primary Phase, our History curriculum is designed to ignite learners’ curiosity about the past and to help them understand how history has shaped the world they live in today. Guided by the principles of the Kapow History curriculum, we provide a broad, coherent and knowledge-rich programme that is carefully sequenced to build progressively across each year group.

We aim for learners to develop a secure sense of chronology, enabling them to place significant events, periods and civilisations within a clear historical framework. This chronological understanding supports learners in making meaningful connections across time, deepening their understanding of how and why the world has changed.

Our curriculum ensures that learners gain both substantive knowledge, including key facts, concepts and historical content and disciplinary knowledge, allowing them to think and work as historians. Through engaging enquiries, learners learn to ask perceptive questions, analyse and interpret a range of sources and explore important concepts such as cause and consequence, change and continuity and similarity and difference. They are encouraged to evaluate evidence critically, considering reliability and bias, and to form their own reasoned interpretations of the past.

We are committed to providing an inclusive curriculum that reflects a diverse range of histories, cultures and perspectives. This enables learners to develop a broader understanding of the past and its global significance, fostering respect and appreciation for different experiences and viewpoints.

Throughout their learning, learners are supported to develop and use rich historical vocabulary, allowing them to articulate their ideas clearly and with increasing confidence. Our enquiry-based approach promotes curiosity and engagement, encouraging learners to develop a genuine interest in history and a desire to learn more.

By making connections between past and present, learners begin to understand how historical events continue to influence modern society. This supports them in becoming informed, reflective and responsible citizens.

By the time learners leave Alkerden Primary Phase, they will have developed a coherent understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. They will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to think critically, question effectively and communicate their ideas as young historians, with a strong foundation for future learning.

At Alkerden Primary Phase, the History curriculum is implemented through a carefully structured and progressive programme. Learning is sequenced to ensure that both knowledge and skills build cumulatively over time, enabling learners to deepen their understanding as they move through the school.

History is taught through an enquiry-based approach, where each unit is framed around key questions that stimulate curiosity and provide a clear purpose for learning. These enquiries guide learners to explore historical concepts in depth, encouraging them to think critically and engage meaningfully with the past. Lessons are designed to revisit prior learning, allowing learners to make connections and strengthen their long-term retention of knowledge through regular retrieval practice.

Teachers use a range of high-quality resources, including primary and secondary sources, to support learners in developing disciplinary skills. Learners are explicitly taught how to interpret evidence, question its reliability and consider different perspectives. This supports them in building their understanding of how historians construct knowledge about the past.

Chronological understanding is embedded throughout the curriculum, with regular opportunities for learners to place new learning within a broader historical context. Timelines and revisiting of previously taught periods help learners to develop a secure sense of time and sequence.

Vocabulary development is prioritised, with key historical terms explicitly taught, revisited and applied within lessons. This enables learners to communicate their understanding with increasing accuracy and confidence.

The curriculum is adapted to meet the needs of all learners. Teachers use scaffolding, modelling and targeted support to ensure that all learners can access the learning, while also providing opportunities for deeper thinking and challenge. Cross-curricular links are made where appropriate to strengthen understanding and provide meaningful context.

Assessment is ongoing and informs teaching. Teachers use questioning, discussion and low-stakes quizzes to check learners’ understanding and address misconceptions promptly. This ensures that learning is secure before moving on to new content.

Through consistent and high-quality teaching, learners are supported to develop both the knowledge and skills of historians, preparing them for the next stage of their education.

By the time learners leave Alkerden, our History curriculum ensures they have a secure and coherent understanding of Britain’s past and the wider world. They are able to place key events, periods and civilisations within a clear chronological framework, demonstrating a strong sense of how history unfolds over time.

Learners develop a rich body of substantive knowledge, alongside the disciplinary skills needed to think as historians. They can ask perceptive questions, analyse a range of historical sources and evaluate their reliability, drawing on evidence to form reasoned interpretations. As a result, learners are able to discuss historical concepts such as cause and consequence, change and continuity and similarity and difference with confidence and accuracy.

Through regular retrieval and carefully sequenced learning, learners retain key knowledge over time and make meaningful connections between different periods of history. Their ability to use and apply subject-specific vocabulary improves progressively, enabling them to articulate their understanding clearly, both orally and in writing.

Learners develop a genuine curiosity and enthusiasm for history. They show an interest in learning about the past and understand its relevance to the present and leave Alkerden Primary Phase as informed, reflective learners who appreciate the diversity and complexity of human experience and are well-prepared for the next stage of their education.

• BBC Bitesize
• National History Museum
• The British Museum

• History for Kids
• Historical Association
• History Facts