Subject content for Key stage 1 Curriculum

Pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.

Pupils should be taught about:

• changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life

• events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally

• the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods 

• significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

Subject content for Key stage 2 Curriculum

Pupils should continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

Pupils should be taught about:

• changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age

• the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain

Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots

• The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor

• a local history study

• a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066

• the achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China

Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world

• a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300.