“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.”

~Theodore Roosevelt

At Oakley Vale Primary, we aim for a high-quality history education that will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. To ensure this, we have designed and implemented a curriculum in collaboration with the National Curriculum and the History Association. 

History Intent

Our curriculum ensures all pupils:

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
• Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
• Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’ and ‘parliament’
• Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference and significance. 
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with educational visits and visitors.

Here is an example of a History Knowledge Organiser, which captures key information for the History sequence of the term. 

Please scroll below to find out more or download the PDF at bottom.