Awareness of history is an essential characteristic of any society, and historical knowledge is fundamental to understanding ourselves and others.  It promotes the understanding of societies, events, movements and developments that have shaped humanity from earliest times. It helps pupils appreciate how the world and its people have changed, as well as the significant continuities that exist to the present day.  Through learning History, our pupils will understand that history is the narrative of the past and that they are the characters in the narrative of shaping the future.   

Progressive layering of knowledge, embedded in long-term memory: 

• Understanding of the chronology of major historical eras and events studied 
• Development of an extensive base of historical vocabulary   
• Recognise the difference between primary and secondary sources of evidence 
• knowledge of causes and consequences of significant world events studied 
• Knowledge of significant individuals and places who/that have influenced life today 

Conceptual Understanding – occurs when new information and ideas are incorporated into pupils’ existing knowledge framework. 
Our History Curriculum has been designed to deepen understanding of the following historical concepts: 

• Chronology – Time does not organise itself – Periodisation is crucial to historical understanding. History is about phases of the past (chronology) but time does not organise itself. Historians organise and shape units of time in order to encourage a sense of period 
• Similarity and Difference – Time periods can be both similar and different at the same time – Time periods can have both similarities and differences, and criteria can be used to compare periods of time 
• Substantive Knowledge – Knowledge is unique to each time period, but is interconnected across time – People, organisations, places and events of the past are unique to their time periods but have a curious relationship with those of other periods.  Pupils learn to recognise the defining characteristic features of a period or event through physical features, such as dress, architecture, transport, and the ideas that shape the period 
• Cause and consequence – form a complex web – Historical events and actions link together and lead to others in a ripple effect. However, there is always more than one cause and consequence, they link together and their relative importance is debated. Pupils learn that it is never straightforward 
• Continuity and Change – Whilst some things change, some things stay the same – Events may lead to something changing or remaining the same, but the extent of either can be underestimated or exaggerated and the type of change is as important as the amount of change 
• Counter-argument or historical interpretation – Historians often disagree – The past does not change, but our views and understanding of the past do change. Historians often disagree, and we have to think hard about what they say.  We need develop an awareness that there can be different versions of the same event, that history is a complicated mix of fact, bias and point of view 
• Significance – Significance is the value that it given to a past event – In History we think about the importance of events in relation to others but the extent to which an event is judged significant can vary and change over time.