Skip to content ↓

History

Year Three

Chronological Understanding

  • To be familiar with the concept of a timeline and understand that it represents a sequence of events shown in chronological order;
  • To understand the terms BC and AD, know what they mean and be able to use them to correctly interpret the chronology of events;
  • To have a broad and generalised overview of some of the most significant historical events/eras in British history.

Diversity – To understand the diversity of our historical past and be aware of potential impacts of this on our own time.

  • To understand how long ago the Stone Age was and that the three Prehistoric periods were significantly longer than the current historical period has been so far.

Stone Age

  • To name the three different periods of the Stone Age and order them correctly;
  • To understand the nature of the evidence and why it is so insubstantial and open to interpretation;
  • To understand why the material record for this period of history is incomplete;
  • To understand there is no written record for the prehistoric period, and that is what the term ‘prehistory’ means;
  • To develop a broad and generalised understanding of events around the world during the Stone Age;
  • To understand how life changed during the Stone Age and the evidence we have for this.

Resilience – As demonstrated by Stone age peoples who survived in very harsh conditions with very limited technologies.

  • To understand that the idea of growing your own food in addition to hunting and gathering developed in the Neolithic period of the Stone Age, and the immense impact this had on human society.

Community – The profound changes in the nature of communities and how they interacted with each other, brought on by the adoption of farming as the main method of subsistence.

  • To know that the same idea may develop in several different locations at the same time, that knowledge/ideas spread very slowly during this period, and why this might be;
  • To appreciate that different opinions may develop based on the same evidence and that these may change in the light of new evidence.

Bronze Age

  • To appreciate the persistence of old technologies as new ones spread;
  • To understand the process of casting an object from bronze;
  • To understand how the material record changes from one period to the next, although the same limitations on the survival of the evidence may still be in place;
  • To appreciate the high level of skill displayed by prehistoric people inasmuch as they were able to create enormous monuments such as Stonehenge with very limited equipment.  

Community – Working together to achieve a common goal as demonstrated by the building of Stonehenge.

Spirituality – Stonehenge is thought to be evidence of a strong sense of spirituality among the people of the time.

  • To understand that we believe Bronze Age religion was very different to our own, the nature of their religion as we currently understand it, and what we base this belief on.

Spirituality – To understand that spirituality may be expressed in many different ways.

  • To have a basic understanding of Bronze Age burial practices.

Spirituality – To understand that the different ways people express their spirituality will leave different types of evidence.

  • To have a basic understanding of travel during the Bronze Age, the technological developments that occurred during this time, and their consequences for society;
  • To have a basic understanding of trade during the Bronze Age, what was traded, and where we believe Bronze Age trade routes were.

Iron Age

  • To understand that we do have written records of the Iron Age in Britain, but that these are written by the invading Roman forces;
  • To appreciate that these accounts, written by an invading culture, may not be accurate, and to understand the kind of bias that may be inherent within them.

Diversity – How did the diversity of these two cultures affect their own opinions of each other, and what were the consequences of this?

  • To understand the advantages of iron over bronze for making tools;
  • To be familiar with the idea of an extended Iron Age family living together in a roundhouse, and the possible basic construction techniques used to build such a house.

Community/Koinonia/Well-being/Trust – Living together in a closely knit unit, each individual depending on many others for their well-being.

  • To have a broad and general understanding of Iron Age life and culture, including food and food production, what life may have been like for children, and games that we know children played.

Well-being – As demonstrated by food security, the variety of food available and having leisure time to play.

  • To understand the important role of hillforts in Iron Age society, why people chose to live in them, and the advantages and disadvantages of this.

Community/Koinonia – Living together with a common purpose.

  • To understand why the Roman forces were able to overrun Iron Age hillforts and the consequences of this.

Morality – Did the Roman forces have the right to invade a land peacefully occupied by other people and destroy their cultures, imposing their own in their places?

Year Four

Romans

  • To locate Italy and Rome on map of Europe, understanding that the Romans originated in Rome and invaded and conquered much of the world;
  • To be familiar with the story of Romulus and Remus and to understand that this legend has been used to explain the location and name of the city of Rome;
  • To find out why the Romans wanted to come to England.

Morality - To explore the moral implications and effects of invading a country and wanting to use their natural resources.

  • To identify food eaten by the Romans and how these were introduced into the British diet;
  • To understand that certain foods that we eat in England in the 21st century were first introduced by the Romans.

Diversity – To understand the cultural value that the Romans bought to England which has become part of our own culture.

  • To learn about Roman warfare, the army, weapons and life as a legionnaire.

Morality - To explore the moral implications and effects of warfare and invading and ruling other nations.

  • To look at Latin words that have evolved to become part of our language.

Diversity – To understand the cultural value that the Romans bought to England which has become part of our own culture.

  • To learn about Roman entertainment in the Colosseum based on research of amphitheatres and the Colosseum.

Morality - To explore the moral implications of using human fighting for entertainment and the use of animals who were also injured and killed in great numbers.

  • To understand the reasons for and the consequences of Boudicca’s rebellion.

Passion and resilience – explore the passion and resilience displayed by Boudicca and her followers in the face of a larger and more powerful opponent.

  • To explore the use of Roman numerals and understand the way the system works up to 100;
  • To understand different styles of ruling – emperor/senate.

Aztecs

  • To learn the main differences between present day map and pre-Columbus map;
  • To discover what drove the need/desire to travel/explore (spices, gold, glory, God etc).

Morality - To explore the moral implications and effects of early travel in terms of exploitation and the desire to spread Christianity.

Spirituality – to understand that indigenous people would have had their own beliefs before the spread of Christianity.

  • To identify and explore key sailing routes/trade routes used by early travellers and to understand why particular routes were chosen;
  • To understand why, at the time, sea travel with all of its dangers was preferable to travel on land in certain areas of the world.
  • To learn about notable explorers: Henry the Navigator, Dias, Vasco da Gama;
  • To learn about the journeys of Europeans to the west: Columbus, Vespucci, Cortez;
  • To learn about the real and imagined dangers faced by sailors;
  • To learn what a sea journey entails and the hardships that would have to be endured.

Resilience – As demonstrated by early sailors who survived in very harsh conditions with very limited food and poor conditions.

  • To learn the story of Cortez and the discovery of the Aztec civilisation;
  • To learn about the culture religion, and life of the Aztec people.

To research personal area of choice and present and display findings to class.

Year Five

Ancient Greece

  • Know and understand significant aspects of history: nature of ancient civilisations, expansion and dissolution empires in the context of learning about the Ancient Greek Empire: How did it grow and why?;
  • To understand how to order events in history, with the knowledge of BC and AD incorporated into the timeline;
  • To understand how Ancient Greece was made up of city-states and how these city states were ruled differently over time.

Diversity – Understanding the diversity of how in the same time of history, in the same country, different city-states lived so differently.

Community – The stark contrasts in the different city-states and how they interacted with each other, but the cohesion within them, making each a strong sense of community.

Resilience – As demonstrated by Spartan people who fought and survived in very harsh conditions with only warrior skills as their strength.

Morality - To explore the moral implications and effects of warfare.

  • To understand the aspects of Ancient Greek democracy and how this compares to alternative methods of how counties are ruled;
  • To understand our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources e.g. Greek vases;
  • To understand what the Greeks believed and to find out about some of the Greek Gods and Goddesses;
  • To understand the methods of historical enquiry, how evidence is used to make historical claims when learning about the gods and goddesses.

Anglo-Saxons and Vikings

  • Develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study by knowing who the Vikings were and when and why they raided and invaded Britain;
  • Be able to construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information by learning about the later Viking raids, the actions of King Ethelred II and the introduction of Danegeld;
  • Be able to construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information by learning about and organising information about Viking life;
  • Be able to address historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference and significance by learning about the Anglo-Saxon legal system and how it is similar and different to the modern legal system in Britain.

Morality - To explore the moral implications and effects of the Anglo-Saxon legal system in comparison with today’s laws of human rights.

  • To develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study by learning about the last Anglo-Saxon Kings of England and what happened in Britain during their reign;
  • To explain how the last Anglo-Saxon kings shaped Britain.

Year Six

Leisure and Entertainment

  • To locate the start of the 20th Century on a timeline;
  • To recall some key events in British history around the turn of the century;
  • To draw on prior knowledge when discussing leisure activities during World War Two;
  • To know some ways Britain was ‘rebuilt’ at the end of the Second World War;
  • To recall key information from learning over a number of lessons;
  •  To recognise which history skills have been used and how effectively

Ancient Egypt

  • To understand the reasons behind mummification and have a basic knowledge of the process used by the ancient Egyptians;
  • To make deductions about life in the past from pictures of the landscape;
  • To design and make a canopic jar or cartouche of their own design in clay using their observations from visit (art project);
  • To formulate 5 – 10 questions to research;
  • To produce an A4 information sheet that could be given to other class members as a basic guide to that subject area.