Intent

Our History curriculum inspires curiosity, fosters critical thinking, and develops children's understanding of the complexities of the past, both locally and globally. Rooted in the English National Curriculum's aims, our provision ensures that all pupils gain a coherent, chronological narrative of Britain’s history and that of the wider world.

We place local history at the heart of our curriculum, drawing on our rich Northumberland heritage, from the Romans at Hadrian’s Wall to the impact of the World Wars on our local community. Through this, pupils build a personal connection to the past, understanding how history has shaped their lives and the world around them.

Our curriculum is ambitious and inclusive, ensuring progression in both substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills, as championed by the History Association's guidelines for best practice. Pupils learn to think and work as young historians, asking perceptive questions, weighing evidence, and evaluating interpretations. They explore key concepts including continuity and change, cause and consequence, significance, similarity, and difference. Our curriculum is structured through recurring threads—Society and Civilization, Technology and Innovation, Democracy and Leadership, Culture and Religion, and Chronology—to ensure depth, coherence, and progression.

We ensure pupils encounter diverse narratives and voices, challenge stereotypes, and develop a secure understanding of British values, democracy, and equality.

Implementation

Our History curriculum is delivered through a carefully designed, enquiry-led approach, with each unit centred around rich key questions that promote curiosity, debate, and reflection. Learning is sequenced progressively across all phases, ensuring that knowledge and skills build over time, particularly within our mixed-age class structure.

High-quality sources, artefacts, educational visits, and local studies are used to bring learning to life and root the national curriculum in our local context. Pupils visit significant sites such as Belsay Hall, Hadrian’s Wall, and Lindisfarne, deepening their understanding of history's impact on their own community.

We explicitly teach chronology, historical vocabulary, and disciplinary thinking, ensuring pupils can communicate historically with increasing precision and confidence. Through discussion, debate, and extended writing, pupils develop their ability to analyse, interpret, and challenge historical narratives. Diverse perspectives and global contexts are embedded throughout our curriculum to ensure all pupils encounter a broad, balanced, and inclusive view of the past.

Assessment is ongoing and purposeful, focusing on pupils’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills, ask meaningful questions, and develop informed judgements about the past.

Impact

Pupils at Belsay Primary leave us as reflective, critical, and knowledgeable young historians. They demonstrate:

• Secure chronological understanding and the ability to place people, events, and periods accurately.
   

• The capacity to think critically, evaluate evidence, and make reasoned judgements.
   

• An appreciation of diversity and inclusion in history, recognising the contributions of a wide range of individuals and cultures.
   

• A curiosity and enthusiasm for history, shown through thoughtful questions and high-quality work.
   

• The ability to communicate historically using precise vocabulary and concepts.
   

Our curriculum ensures that all pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, develop the historical knowledge, skills, and cultural capital needed to succeed at secondary school and beyond, and to become informed, thoughtful citizens with a secure understanding of the past’s relevance to the present and future.