History

At Brookfield Academy, we provide an ambitious history education to help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. This inspires pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past and the impact on the present day. Learning equips pupils with the ability to critically analyse contrasting arguments and make interpretations of the past. 

History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. By the time they leave primary school, pupils will have a coherent understanding of historical concepts and historical enquiry. 

During KS1, pupils work to develop an understanding of chronology and identify significant periods of time. During KS2, pupils work in a chronological order from ‘Stone Age to Iron Age’ in Year 3 to ‘World War 2’ in Year 6. This is repeated for ancient civilisations, starting with ‘Ancient Egypt’ in Year 3 to the ‘Mayan Civilisation’ in Year 6. Pupils are given the opportunity to develop and embed a sense of time, understand how civilisations were interconnected and to understand how some historical events occurred concurrently.

It is essential to excite and intrigue children to find out more about events and people from the past, therefore we make use of historical artefacts, visitors, workshops and visits. We aim to give our children as much understanding as possible about what it was like to be around at a particular period in history by having practical and experiential lessons where possible. We also enrich our curriculum offer by visiting places such as: Hampton Court, Holly Lodge, Natural History Museum and the British Museum.

Please click here to see an example of the progression across one aspect of History learning. 

History Overview and Progression Map

National Curriculum History KS1 & KS2