The national curriculum for history

Aims

• 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. 

National curriculum subject content

Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)

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 [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong] 
• significant historical events, people and places in their own locality. 

Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6)

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.