Intent
At Ladysmith Infant School, we follow the National Curriculum to structure and shape our teaching of history. We want our children to develop a curiosity about the past and an understanding of how history shapes the world we live in today. Through engaging and carefully planned lessons, pupils become thoughtful historians who ask questions, analyse evidence and explore different perspectives. Our curriculum aims to build secure chronological knowledge and deepen historical understanding over time.
In the Early Years, children begin by exploring the concepts of past and present through personal timelines, stories and discussions about change.
In Key Stage 1, pupils learn about significant individuals, important events and aspects of local history. Topics such as Toys, Local Studies and the Great Fire of London help children begin to understand historical significance and change over time.
Throughout the school, pupils develop key historical concepts and skills, including:
Our children develop a coherent understanding of the past and how it affects the wider world. They also look at their local area in detail and link with our community to gain different perspectives.
Throughout the curriculum, learning references our substantive concepts, which we share with the Infant School. These are the 'big ideas' of history, which when revisited in a range of different contexts support children to develop connections, enabling them to increasingly apply their knowledge in unfamiliar contexts to draw meaningful conclusions.
What do history lessons look like at Ladysmith Infant School?
At Ladysmith Infant School, we use our progression map to make sure that our lessons build year on year and lesson on lesson. Our curriculum is organised with meaningful opportunities for children to build on their prior knowledge and make informed comparisons between different periods of history. To further support children to continue to build on their existing knowledge, each lesson begins with several carefully selected flashback questions.
We use schema, which contains text and images to describe the key knowledge they will acquire during the sequence. We use schemas to support dual coding of new information, supporting pupils to remember more, and make stronger connections with what they already know. This helps children to commit their new learning to long term memory. The schema is revisited at the beginning of every lesson, prompting the children to recall their new knowledge regularly.
We adopt an enquiry focused approach to learning in history, which develops our pupils as young historians. Through enquiry, our pupils not only build subject knowledge and understanding but become increasingly adept at critical thinking, the use of specialised vocabulary and in grasping overarching substantive concepts. We structure learning in history through big question led enquiries about relevant historical topics, places and themes. Our learning and teaching in history is interactive and practical, allowing opportunities for pupils to work independently and collaboratively both inside and outside of the classroom. Wherever possible, we provide our pupils with historical evidence to analyse and from which to reach conclusions and make judgements.
How do we make sure that every child succeeds?
Our curriculum aims to be inclusive for all. We adapt our planning for the needs of all children and ensure that children have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding at the end of each unit in a variety of ways.
| Subject Documents |
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| LINS History Progression Map 2026 |