At ACE, we are committed to delivering a high-quality history curriculum that aligns with the statutory National Curriculum. Our approach emphasises both substantive and disciplinary concepts, ensuring that students leave our school with a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and the wider world.

Intent: Our Curriculum Structure and Chronology

• Chronological Narrative: Our curriculum is designed to provide a chronological narrative that progresses throughout each year group. Each lesson builds upon key knowledge and helps students make connections with what they have previously learnt. This structured approach allows children to develop a clear understanding of chronology, situating themselves, their families, and their locality within a broader historical context.

• Local History Focus: We emphasise local history, exploring how the children’s local area has developed over time. This includes studying significant figures from the locality and examining their impact on contemporary life, making history relevant and meaningful to our students.

Understanding Cultural Origins

• Cultural Foundations: Our curriculum explores the origins of key aspects of modern life and culture, such as the establishment of the Fire Brigade, hospitals and the role of the monarchy. It also focusses specifically on the development of Britain's diverse society and asks the children 'what does it mean to be British?'.  By understanding these foundations, children can better appreciate how history shapes their everyday lives.

Development of Historical Skills

• Progressive Skill Building: We focus on teaching key historical skills in a clear progression from year to year. These skills enable children to analyse and apply their understanding across various historical contexts.

• Historical Enquiry: Historical enquiry is woven throughout our history curriculum, igniting children’s interest and ensuring they leave ACE with a deep, relevant understanding of key historical events and their implications for today. Students are encouraged to actively question and investigate historical facts, placing them within context.

Critical Thinking and Analysis

• Equipping for Enquiry: Our children are equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop their perspectives and judgements. We encourage them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, and frame historically valid questions, leading to structured accounts and analyses of historical events.

• Understanding Historical Methods: Children learn about historical enquiry methods, including how evidence is rigorously used to make claims about the past. They explore how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of history have been constructed, fostering a nuanced understanding of historical narratives.

Gaining Historical Perspective

• Contextual Knowledge: As children grow in their historical knowledge, they gain the ability to place this knowledge into different contexts. They develop an appreciation for the diversity of societies and cultures, enriching their overall understanding of the world.

Implementation - how we meet our curriculum aims

At ACE, we adhere to the National Curriculum, which sequences learning into key stages, emphasising a chronological narrative.

Our History curriculum is carefully planned to ensure clear and consistent progression in children’s understanding of chronology and historical concepts.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1)

• Foundational Concepts: In EYFS and KS1, children are introduced to the concept of their own history and that of their families and locality. This foundational understanding begins with their present and moves backwards in time to explore their parents' and grandparents' experiences.

Transition to Key Stage 2 (KS2)

• Bridging the Gap: The first study in Year 3 serves as a bridge between the KS1 curriculum, which focusses on personal history, and the KS2 curriculum, which begins with pre-history. This Year 3 topic examines the role of monarchy in establishing democracy and British values, including key events such as the establishment of the English crown in 1066, the Magna Carta, the rule of law, the Church of England, the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the rise and decline of the empire. This foundational knowledge provides essential cultural capital, which is built upon through cross-curricular links as children progress through school.

Chronological Progression in KS2

• Following the Timeline: In KS2, children follow a chronological path from pre-history through ancient civilisations to society in Britain up to 1066. A special focus on periods post-1066 incorporates local studies, helping them connect their learning to their community.

Local History Integration

• Relevance to the Community: Local studies are woven into the curriculum, such as learning about local heroes in Year 2, examining how Bowdon was affected by World War II in Year 6, and Manchester's role in the Industrial Revolution in Year 6. These connections to local history make learning relevant and engaging.

Curriculum Design and Resources

• National Curriculum Alignment: Our curriculum areas align with the National Curriculum while following a logical chronology. 

• Disciplinary Knowledge: We recognise the importance of disciplinary knowledge in history education. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that children develop a robust understanding of key historical concepts as outlined in the National Curriculum (cause and consequence, similarity and difference, continuity and change, historical significance). They learn to think as historians. 

• Substantive Knowledge: We place a strong emphasis on substantive knowledge and concepts in our history curriculum; that our children know what historians know. These concepts are carefully selected to enhance our children's understanding of historical themes and contexts, allowing them to make meaningful connections across different periods and topics. The substantive concepts we have identified are local history, settlement and civilisation, legacy and impact, migration, monarchy/power/democracy.

• Visual Aids: Timelines are prominently displayed in every classroom and throughout the school to promote the understanding of chronology. We aim to integrate timelines into other subjects, such as English, Science, and Art, to further embed historical understanding across the curriculum.

Supporting Cultural Capital and Critical Thinking

• Cultural Context: Knowledge of historical facts provides cultural capital and context that supports inference in reading, Art, English, and for understanding societal issues in Geography and PSHE.

• Disciplinary Skills: Our history curriculum fosters a discipline of critical thinking and analysis, which is crucial for developing an understanding of society and citizenship. These are historical interpretation, historical investigations, chronological understanding, knowledge and understanding of events and people in the past, presenting, organising and communicating.

Deepening Historical Understanding

• Guided Reading: Whole Class Guided Reading sessions provide opportunities to deepen knowledge and understanding of historical themes by studying additional texts related to the history curriculum. This approach not only reinforces historical concepts but also enhances students’ literacy skills.

Through this comprehensive approach to history education, we aim to cultivate well-informed citizens who understand their place in both local and global contexts, equipped with the skills and knowledge to engage thoughtfully with the world around them.

Our curriculum impact

At ACE, we aim for our history curriculum to have a profound impact on our learning and lives. By implementing effective teaching strategies and fostering an environment of curiosity, we believe that we achieve the following outcomes:

Key Outcomes

• Increased Knowledge Retention: Children will know more and remember more of what they have learnt. Our curriculum is designed to build a solid foundation of historical knowledge that children can recall and apply throughout their education.

• Connections Between Learning: Children will be able to make meaningful links between their prior learning and current topics. This integration of knowledge helps reinforce their understanding and enables them to build upon previously taught skills effectively.

• Fostering Curiosity: We encourage children to ask more questions, developing their curiosity about historical events, figures, and contexts. This inquisitive mindset promotes deeper engagement with the subject matter.

• Application of Skills: Children will actively apply the historical skills they have been taught, enabling them to engage critically with the content and utilise their learning in practical contexts.

Monitoring and Assessment

To assess the effectiveness of our curriculum and ensure consistency in learning outcomes, we employ several strategies:

• Pupil Voice: Gathering feedback from children about their learning experiences helps us understand their perspectives and interests.

• Collaborative Conversations: Engaging in discussions with colleagues allows for the sharing of best practices, insights, and strategies to enhance our teaching.

Developing Critical Understanding

As children deepen their understanding of their place in history, they also cultivate an appreciation for the diversity of people, places, and environments across time. This process fosters:

• Sense of Responsibility: Students will carry forward a sense of responsibility and respect towards history and the world around them, recognising the importance of stewardship.

• Critical Engagement: By encouraging critical engagement with past events and figures, children will develop the curiosity and confidence needed to investigate various interpretations of historical societies and events.

Causation and Consequences

Through our chronological approach to history, our children  gain insight into the causation and consequences of historical events.

This understanding lays the groundwork for further development of historical skills in Key Stage 3 and beyond.