History at Hurst Green is designed to help pupils develop a secure understanding of the past and how it has shaped the world we live in today. The curriculum is carefully sequenced from Year 1 to Year 6 to ensure that pupils build both substantive historical knowledge and increasingly sophisticated disciplinary thinking over time.

Structure & Sequencing

Our History curriculum is structured around key strands including Everyday Life & Society, Power & Governance, Change & Turning Points, Connections & Encounters, Society, Inequality & Difference and Local History & Place. These strands are revisited throughout the school so that pupils can deepen their understanding of important historical concepts and make meaningful connections across periods of history. Pupils begin by exploring familiar changes within living memory before progressing to the study of ancient civilisations, migration, conflict, trade, power and societal change in Upper Key Stage 2.

Enquiry

Each unit is enquiry-led and built around a “Big Question” which encourages pupils to think critically, use evidence and develop historical understanding through discussion, interpretation and analysis. As pupils move through the curriculum, they progress from identifying and describing features of the past to explaining causes and consequences, analysing historical significance and evaluating interpretations.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is carefully mapped across the curriculum to ensure that important disciplinary and topic-specific language is explicitly taught, revisited and applied in different contexts. Medium-term plans clearly identify core knowledge, disciplinary skills and vocabulary to support consistency, progression and high expectations across the school.

Local History

Local history is woven throughout the curriculum to help pupils develop a strong sense of place, identity and community alongside an understanding of national and global history. Through the curriculum, pupils are encouraged to become curious, reflective and thoughtful historians who understand how the past influences the present and the future.