At Clifton, we want our children to be curious, thoughtful and inquisitive about the past. History helps children to understand how people, places and societies have changed over time and how the past has shaped the world in which we live today.

From Nursery to Year 6, children develop an understanding of the past through stories, experiences, artefacts, evidence and historical enquiry. We encourage children to ask questions, investigate the past and develop their own understanding of historical events and people.

Our History Curriculum

From Reception to Year 6, we use the Kapow Primary History curriculum, which provides a carefully sequenced programme of learning that meets the requirements of the National Curriculum. Knowledge and skills are built progressively, allowing children to revisit and deepen their understanding as they move through the school.

Our curriculum develops five key areas:

• Topic knowledge – learning about significant people, events, societies and periods of history.
• Chronological awareness – understanding when events happened and how different periods of history connect.
• Substantive concepts – developing an understanding of important historical ideas such as invasion, settlement, monarchy and empire.
• Disciplinary concepts – learning how historians investigate and interpret the past.
• Historical enquiry – asking questions, examining evidence, interpreting information and communicating conclusions.

Our curriculum follows a spiral approach, meaning that important knowledge, vocabulary and skills are revisited throughout children's time at Clifton, with increasing depth and complexity.

Thinking Like Historians

History is not just about remembering dates and facts. Children learn how historians find out about the past and how evidence can be used to build an understanding of what happened.

Children have opportunities to ask historical questions, examine artefacts and sources, compare evidence, identify similarities and differences, consider different perspectives and explain their conclusions.

Chronology is an important part of our learning. Children use timelines and historical vocabulary to understand where events, people and periods fit within the wider story of the past.

History in Early Years

In Nursery and Reception, children begin to develop an understanding of the past through their own experiences, families, stories and the world around them. Through activities, photographs, objects, stories and discussions, children begin to notice changes over time and develop an understanding of past and present.

These early experiences provide the foundations for the more structured historical learning children encounter as they move through school. Kapow's Reception History curriculum includes experiences such as exploring family history, timelines, toys, transport and the past.

Supporting Every Child

We want every child to develop a love of history and an understanding of the diverse people and societies that have shaped our world. Our curriculum provides opportunities for children to explore different perspectives and experiences, including the stories of people from a range of backgrounds and cultures.

Teachers use questioning, discussion, retrieval activities and children's work to check understanding and identify misconceptions. This helps us build on children's prior knowledge and support them to make meaningful connections between different periods of history.

Our aim is that, by the time children leave Clifton, they have developed a secure understanding of the past, a strong sense of chronology and the knowledge and skills to investigate historical questions, use evidence and form their own informed interpretations of the past.