‘History is fun. Learning about events that happened before our time, helps us to see what our ancestors and other cultures did to improve the world. This helps us to think about how we can make the world a better and more peaceful place.’

(Breadsall Y6 Pupils 2024)

History: To learn from the past to build a better future

At Breadsall Hill Top, we believe in the importance of learning about the past in order to shape the future. We care that our children understand the challenges and successes experienced by a range of people from the past, so that they can make informed decisions as citizens of their local and global communities that have a positive impact on their futures.

We care about;

• Children having a sense of empowerment; seeing themselves as Historians, thinking critically, asking questions and challenging viewpoints
• Children demonstrating passion and enthusiasm for History through an ambitious, knowledge-rich and engaging curriculum
• Children learning about the history of Derby, Britain and the wider world and the connections between different time periods
• Children identifying connections between their own lives in Derby and those of a diverse range of significant people and communities from the past
• Children’s lives are enriched through the development of their cultural capital and ability to engage in rich conversations using ambitious vocabulary

We know that a rich and secure knowledge base is essential for our children to be able to think like a Historian and in order to maintain the integrity of the subject discipline, we teach History in isolation. At Breadsall we have implemented this through the Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC.)

This curriculum ensures that knowledge is:

• Valued and specified
• Well-sequenced
• Taught to be remembered
• Knowledge is a pathway to a skill. Teach knowledge, and skills are the end result.

We have deliberately chosen the periods studied to ensure that the curriculum has explicit links to our unique context.

Children learn through high-quality and ambitious learning sequences filled with rich vocabulary and engaging learning experiences that ensure that they are developing as Historical thinkers. The PKC is a progression model with the specificity required to support teachers to build in opportunities to check that children are remembering what they have been taught.

Teachers’ disciplinary knowledge along with the children’s secure knowledge foundations ensure that History lessons are creative; providing the children with a variety of opportunities to engage in Historical enquiry through debate and discussion, exploring chronology and timelines, analysing the significance of key events and interpreting primary and secondary sources.

We care that our children at Breadsall see the world beyond the classroom and access a wide range of experiences that directly support their learning in History. We provide a range of opportunities including educational visits to historical sites, a diverse range of visitors from the local community and experiential days in school.

Fundamentally, we aim to instill in them a lifelong love of History which will remain with them for the rest of their lives and has the potential to be studied further. 

History Curriculum Map