Intent
At Larwood School, our history curriculum is ambitious and inclusive, giving every child the knowledge and cultural understanding they need for life and future learning.
We follow the Chris Quigley Curriculum, based on the National Curriculum (2014). Our topics are broad, balanced, and carefully adapted to help children build their historical knowledge, skills, and concepts step by step.
We aim to inspire a lasting interest in history and equip children to understand and engage with the changing world around them. Each year’s learning builds on what came before, linking topics to deepen their understanding of the past and how people interpret it
Implementation
To ensure high standards in history teaching and learning, we use a progressive curriculum that helps children build on and recall previous knowledge and skills over time.
- History is a key part of one of the three yearly topics and also appears in the other two.
- Teaching focuses on knowledge and skills from the National Curriculum
The impact is measured through:
- Regularly reviewing planning, pupil discussions, and work samples.
- Offering help to teachers who need support with subject knowledge or curriculum adjustments.
- Providing ideas and resources to ease planning and improve engagement.
Our curriculum follows the 2014 National Curriculum and the Chris Quigley framework, which includes 10 key knowledge categories. Teachers cover several categories each topic, building skills progressively throughout primary school. For example:
- Year 4 study Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, building on Year 3’s learning about Roman, Viking, and Anglo-Saxon invasions and their impact on British society
Teachers also include transferable skills like reading fluency and numeracy (e.g., interpreting graphs) in their lessons.
We make history accessible and challenging for all pupils, including SEN and gifted children, by differentiating lessons:
- Gifted pupils extend their learning through investigations, source analysis, and longer writing.
- Pupils needing extra help receive more adult support and scaffolding.
- History learning happens inside and outside the classroom:
- Each year group organises trips and visits linked to their topics to spark curiosity.
- Teachers plan engaging activities that take children out of the classroom.
Topics start with a ‘Stunning Start’ to capture interest and end with a ‘Fantastic Finish’ to showcase learning.
Outside school, the History Club lets KS2 children with a passion for history explore the subject further by interviewing locals, investigating sources, and developing their own questions.
Impact
The history curriculum at Larwood is well planned, high quality, and shows clear progression. We measure its impact through:
- Assessing children’s understanding of topic vocabulary during Larwood mentoring
- Using images and videos of practical learning
- Moderating work through book scrutinies
- Staff meetings to discuss progress and outcomes
- Marking written work
- Annual reports on history standards
By the time they leave Larwood, children will have a strong understanding of UK history up to 1066. They will also compare this with the histories of other civilisations, such as Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Benin. This gives them a solid foundation for secondary school and a deeper understanding of the world around them.
