History
Teaching history at St Mark’s
History at St. Mark’s develops pupils’ understanding of how people, places, power and ideas have changed over time, and how the past shapes the present.
Our broad curriculum connects the history of Hanwell and London with Britain and the wider world, including Africa, Asia and the Islamic world. Reflecting the diversity of our community, it explores achievements, challenges and different perspectives, helping pupils build a connected understanding of the past. Pupils learn to question evidence and recognise that no people or civilisation can be understood through a single story.
Our aims in teaching History at St. Mark’s
Our aims in teaching History at St. Mark’s are to:
- Inspire curiosity about the past and how it shapes our lives today.
- Build secure historical knowledge and a clear understanding of chronology.
- Explore local, British and world history, reflecting the diversity of our community.
- Develop pupils’ ability to ask questions, examine evidence and consider different interpretations.
- Help children explain change and continuity, causes and consequences, and historical significance.
- Challenge stereotypes and recognise that people and societies have complex histories.
- Enable pupils to use historical vocabulary and evidence to explain their ideas confidently.
How History is taught across the school:
In the EYFS, children explore the past through their own experiences, family histories, stories and familiar objects. From Year 1, historical enquiry encourages pupils to investigate questions, examine evidence and explain their conclusions.
Across the school, we:
- Use timelines to develop chronology and connect events and periods.
- Explore artefacts, photographs, written accounts and other sources, considering what they reveal about the past.
- Teach pupils to compare experiences and perspectives, recognising diversity within societies.
- Develop understanding of change, continuity, cause, consequence and historical significance.
- Revisit key knowledge and vocabulary through discussion, recap questions and recall activities.
- Bring history to life through stories, practical experiences and opportunities to explore local heritage.
- Support access to learning through visual resources, structured talk and appropriate support with recording.
Whole school curriculum map for History:
| Cycle | Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cycle | All About Me Personal and family histories; babyhood to now; birthdays and significant experiences; ordering familiar events and using before, now and after. | Celebrations Celebrations remembered and repeated over time; family and community traditions; objects, photographs and stories as evidence; similarities and differences. | People Who Help Us Roles in the community now and in the recent past; how familiar jobs, uniforms, equipment and services have changed; talking to visitors as oral evidence. | Terrific Tales Sequencing stories; distinguishing real and imagined pasts; encountering traditional tales and historic settings; comparing old and new versions or objects. | Blue Planet Stories of sea travel and exploration; old and new boats; how knowledge and care of oceans have changed; ordering a simple narrative from evidence. | Growing Change over time in children, plants and animals; observing and recording stages; comparing photographs and explaining what has changed and stayed the same. |
| Cycle | Magnificent Me Identity, family, memory and belonging; personal timelines; similarities and differences between childhood now and in parents’ or grandparents’ past. | Night and Day Daily routines past and present; clocks, lamps and household objects; how people managed darkness before electric lighting; sequencing a day, Nocturnal animals | Snow and Ice Explorers and journeys in cold places through age-appropriate stories and objects; then-and-now equipment; evidence, courage and changing knowledge. | Homes and Castles Homes and buildings in the past; castles, rulers and defence through stories, visits, images and construction; comparing materials, purposes and daily life. | In the Garden Gardens, tools and food growing past and present; seasonal routines; photographs, objects and oral accounts; change and continuity in familiar practices. | Journeys and Islands Transport and travel over time; old and modern vehicles, tickets and maps; sequencing a journey and comparing how speed, safety and communication changed. |
| Year | Autumn | Spring | Summer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Changes in Hanwell Roots formal history in pupils’ locality and prior EYFS experience. Personal chronology leads to St Mark’s, changing Hanwell and Charlie Chaplin, establishing evidence, continuity and significance through photographs, maps, buildings and records. | The Great Fire of London Moves beyond living memory through a coherent national event. London in 1666, causes, sequence, Samuel Pepys and rebuilding develop chronology, cause and consequence and an early understanding of eyewitness viewpoint. | Kings, Queens and Leaders Introduces monarchy and the long-term shift from concentrated royal authority towards shared governance. Selected episodes such as Magna Carta and Parliament are placed carefully on a simple timeline and linked to modern Britain. |
| 2 | Ibn Battuta Broadens KS1 history beyond Britain through a significant 14th-century Muslim scholar and traveller. His journeys and the Rihla connect biography, medieval life, cultural encounter and the limitations of a dictated account. | Tudor Britain Explores society, diversity, monarchy and religious change. Social hierarchy, Mary Fillis, Jacques Francis, Henry VIII’s portraits and the Reformation show that sources preserve different lives unevenly. | Powerful Voices Applies significance to people who challenged unfairness or raised awareness, including Gandhi, Mary Seacole, Rosa Parks, Marcus Rashford, Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough. Past and present comparisons show different routes to change. |
| 3 | Roman Britain Begins KS2 with invasion, resistance, diversity, change and legacy across nearly four centuries. Claudius, Septimius Severus, Boudica and varied settlements develop a more complex account than a simple conqueror story. | Industrial and Railway Revolution Extends chronology beyond 1066 and examines accelerating change from the later 18th century. Factories, steam power, work, towns and railways demonstrate that innovation created unequal benefits and harms. | Baghdad c.900 Provides a non-European depth study concurrent with early medieval Britain. Location, trade, scholarship and the House of Wisdom reveal an interconnected Islamic world and challenge a solely Eurocentric account of the medieval period. |
| Year | Autumn | Spring | Summer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Ancient Egypt Rationale: Develops ancient chronology through society, belief, leadership, environment and legacy. Hierarchy, gods, pharaohs and the Nile show how material and written evidence produces interpretations across a civilisation spanning millennia. | The Victorian Era Rationale: Builds directly on Year 3 industrialisation. Queen Victoria’s reign frames a deeper study of urbanisation, childhood inequality, reform, innovation and empire, with progress evaluated through different experiences. | Stone Age to Iron Age Rationale: Returns to deep British chronology and life before written records. Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age evidence shows gradual change in settlement, farming, technology, belief and power. |
| 5 | Ancient Greek Legacy Meets the statutory ancient Greece study through city-states, belief, Alexander, democracy and legacy. Achievement is examined alongside exclusion, conquest and the ways later societies adapted Greek ideas. | Vikings and Anglo-Saxons Continues Britain’s story from raids and settlement to 1066. Danelaw, Alfred and Guthrum, conversion, Cnut, Edward and Hastings reveal conflict, accommodation, leadership, belief and cultural interaction. | The Medieval World Deepens understanding of how power was gained, maintained and challenged after 1066. Norman control and the Black Death are connected with Genghis Khan, Mansa Musa and Timbuktu to place England within a wider medieval world. |
| 6 | Transatlantic Enslavement, Resistance and Abolition Begins with Mali before examining Atlantic trafficking, plantation economies, testimony, resistance, abolition and Harriet Tubman. Agency and collective action are centred and legislation is distinguished from lived freedom. | World War II Draws together conflict, ideology, empire, technology and civilian experience. Versailles, Nazi dictatorship, Poland, the Battle of Britain, the Home Front and the Holocaust require precise chronology and responsible source work. | Rebuilding Britain Completes the primary chronological journey after 1945. The Attlee government, NHS, migration, decolonisation, rebuilding and youth culture explain how war, empire and social policy shaped modern Britain. |
End points:
End of EYFS
Children talk about the past using familiar experiences, stories, photographs and objects. They sequence simple events and recognise differences between then and now, preparing them for historical learning in Key Stage 1.
End of Key Stage 1
Pupils sequence events, describe significant people and changes, and compare life in different periods. They use sources and historical vocabulary to answer questions, preparing them for broader study and more independent enquiry in Key Stage 2.
End of Key Stage 2
Pupils connect local, British and world history within a clear chronological framework. They explain change, causes and significance, compare evidence and perspectives, and support conclusions with relevant knowledge, preparing them for deeper historical enquiry in Key Stage 3.
Curriculum Books
Quick links to our Curriculum books for all year groups from Nursery to Year 6.
Year Groups
From Nursery to Year 6 – find out all the information relevant to your child’s year group.
Whole School News
School news and events, letters to parents, dates for your diary, information and announcements.