History

Purpose of study
A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and 
understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity 
to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, 
think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. 
History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, 
the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own 
identity and the challenges of their time.
Aims
The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:
? know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological 
narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped 
this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
? know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of 
ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features 
of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
? gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as 
‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
? understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and 
consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make 
connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and 
create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
? understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously 
to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and 
interpretations of the past have been constructed

History – key stages 1 and 2

? gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, 
understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international 
history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and 
between short- and long-term timescales

Autumn 2

Why do we celebrate Bonfire Night?

We will be spending the time around Bonfire Night to think about why we celebrate on 5th November every year. We will find out the reasons behind the celebrations and learn about The Gunpowder Plot using different sources of evidence.

Autumn 2

Why was Samuel Taylor Important to Eccleston?

We will be looking at our Local History of Eccleston. We will be looking at a significant local person, a local place and an event in Eccleston that was important.

Files to Download