History
Subject Leader: Mrs Brunt
At CMFS we intend for pupils to gain a sense of time and place, learning about the history of their own locality but also broadening their horizons of the rest of the world. We want to inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past and how it has shaped their lives and aim for children to ask questions and think critically about events and people. By supporting our children to consider different perspectives, we intend to open their minds to the complexity and diversity of people’s lives and help them make more of their own informed decisions.
History is underpinned by the Early Years foundational knowledge. We know children thrive when discussing events that occurred in the past, which in turn helps them to better understand time. History encompasses so many strands of the EYFS with vocabulary, communication and language being at the heart of Historical understanding.
Our History curriculum is based on the CUSP curriculum. The curriculum is structured around cumulative knowledge, chronology, and understanding change through cause and consequence, with connections made across different periods of time. We personalise the curriculum to refer to events in our local History and support children’s understanding of their own locality.
In teaching History at CMFS, we ensure that knowledge retention extends beyond immediate recall so we link new content to prior learning to reduce cognitive load. This cumulative approach allows children to connect significant historical periods, people, places, and events, helping them develop a coherent and expansive mental timeline. The curriculum revisits and deepens key concepts, ensuring that pupils become increasingly knowledgeable with each study, avoiding superficial or fragmented understanding of history.
Vocabulary is systematically developed with an emphasis on both high-frequency words (Tier 2) and subject-specific terms (Tier 3) and we expect children to know and remember this vocabulary and use it in other areas of their studies.
| Autumn Term | Spring Term | Summer Term | |
| Year 1 | Changes within Living Memory | The lives of significant people (Mary Anning and David Attenborough) | More lives of significant people (Neil Armstrong, Mae Jemison, Bernard Harris Jr, Tim Peak) |
| Year 2 | Events beyond living memory | Significant historical events, people, places in our locality | Significant historical events, people, places in our locality Revisit - events beyond living memory |
| Year 3 | Stone Age - Iron Age | Stone Age - Iron Age Rome and the impact on Britain | Rome and the impact on Britain |
| Year 4 | Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor | Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor Ancient civilisation: Egypt (2025 onwards) | Ancient civilisation: Egypt (2025 onwards) |