Art

Computing

DT

English

French	Geography	History
Maths	Music	PE
PSHE	RE	Science

Intent

At Lethbridge, we want every pupil to ask questions about Britain's past and the wider world, and to have the knowledge and skills to answer them. Our history curriculum is exciting, engaging and cross-curricular. Its termly topics are chosen to capture pupils' curiosity and connect with their own lives.

Many topics start close to home. In Key Stage 1, "Top Toys!" lets pupils compare their own toys with toys from past decades. In Key Stage 2, our Victorian study links directly to Swindon, a town transformed by the Great Western Railway. Our history is also on our doorstep: the Neolithic monuments at Avebury, the railway works and village, and our own school log book, written daily by the headteacher during the Second World War.

Every topic is built around at least one of three key themes: homes, children and rule of law. These themes act as anchors. Pupils meet them again and again in different periods, so their understanding deepens as they move through the school.

We want pupils to understand how Britain has both influenced, and been influenced by, the wider world. They learn about significant individuals who have helped shape our nation, such as Boudicca, Alfred the Great, Bessie Coleman, Tim Berners-Lee and Tim Peake.

By the end of every topic, pupils should be able to confidently name a significant event, a significant figure and an aspect of historical change. By the time they leave us, they should have a secure, connected sense of chronology and be able to think, question and judge like historians.

Our curriculum is built on the Kapow Primary history scheme, which covers the full national curriculum, and is adapted to reflect our school, our town and our key themes.

Our curriculum across the two-year cycle

Year groups are taught separately, but history and geography run on a two-year cycle, so Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6 learn the same topic at the same time and share educational visits. Each topic carries at least one key theme.

Phase	Cycle and term	Topic (Kapow unit)	Key theme	Local and significant links
EYFS	Every year, Autumn	Peek into the past	Homes, children	Family photographs and memories
EYFS	Every year, Spring and Summer	Adventures through time	Children	Comparing people from the past and now
Years 1 and 2	A, Autumn	Top Toys! (How have toys changed?)	Children	Pupils' own toys compared with toys from past decades
Years 1 and 2	A, Spring	What is History?	Children	Describe what holidays in the past were like and compare them to now.
Years 1 and 2	A, Summer	How am I making history?	Children, homes	Discuss memories. Identify a similarity and difference between childhood now and in the past.
Years 1 and 2	B, Autumn	How did we learn to fly?	Rule of law	Significant people in flight
Years 1 and 2	B, Spring	What is a monarch?	Rule of law	William the Conqueror and castles
Years 1 and 2	B, Summer	How was school different in the past?	Children	Our school log book and school photographs
Years 3 and 4	A, Autumn	How have children's lives changed?	Children, homes, leisure activities	Victorian and Tudor children; Lord Shaftesbury
Years 3 and 4	A, Spring	What changed in Britain after the Anglo-Saxon Invasion?	Homes, settlements, beliefs	Sutton Hoo, King Alfred
Years 3 and 4	A, Summer	Were the Vikings raiders, traders or something else?	Rule of law; achievements	Importance of trade, chronological understanding, describing similarities and differences between social cultural religious and ethnic diversity
Years 3 and 4	B, Autumn	Why did the Romans invade and settle in Britain?	Rule of law, homes	Boudicca’s revolt; legacy such as the Fosse Way
Years 3 and 4	B, Spring	What was important to Ancient Egyptians?	Rule of law, homes	Pharaohs, beliefs and daily life
Years 3 and 4	B, Summer	Would you prefer to have lived in the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age?	Homes, rule of law	Avebury henge and stone circles; the Amesbury Archer; Skara Brae
Years 5 and 6	A, Autumn	What is the legacy of the Ancient Greek civilisation?	Rule of law	Athenian democracy and our democracy today; Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.
Years 5 and 6	A, Spring	What does the Census tell us about our local area?	Homes	Learning about Victorian children, jobs in the 1800s, women and the 1911 census, who lived in our local area
Years 5 and 6	A, Summer	How did the achievements of the Ancient Maya impact their society and beyond?	Homes	Beliefs and what their remains tell us; cacao; the decline of ancient cities
Years 5 and 6	B, Autumn	What was the impact of World War 2 on the people of Britain?	Children, homes	Our school log book written during the war
Years 5 and 6	B, Spring	What was life like in Tudor England?	Rule of law, homes	Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Tudor inventories
Years 5 and 6	B, Summer	Who should go on the £10 banknote?	Rule of law	Significant individuals such as Tim Berners-Lee

Our Victorian study runs through three topics: “How was school different in the past?”, "How have children's lives changed?" and the Census enquiry, which uses Swindon's railway heritage as evidence.

Our local history

Swindon and Wiltshire give pupils real places, sources and objects through which to study the past.

• Avebury. The Neolithic henge and stone circles, built about 4,500 years ago, bring the Stone Age to life. They are part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site.
  
  
• Anglo-Saxon Swindon. The town's name comes from the Old English for "pig hill", and Swindon is recorded in the Domesday Book, showing pupils that local place names are historical evidence.
  
  
• The Great Western Railway. Swindon Works opened in 1843 and turned a market town of about 2,500 people into a railway town. The GWR was central to the town's growth. The railway village, its terraced homes and the Museum of the Great Western Railway show pupils how Victorians lived and worked.
  
  
• Our school log book. Written daily by the headteacher, it records how the Second World War affected the children of our school at the time. It is a powerful primary source for Years 5 and 6, and it shows younger pupils how school has changed.
  
  
• Authentic artefacts. Pupils handle real objects wherever possible, from old toys and school equipment to Victorian and wartime artefacts, so that they learn to question evidence first-hand.

How we teach history

Our teaching is enquiry-led and rooted in real evidence. It draws on evidence about how pupils learn and remember.

• Pupils ask the questions. Every topic is framed by a big enquiry question. Pupils ask their own questions too, and take ownership of their learning by using a variety of sources to answer them.
  
  
• Sources and artefacts. Pupils work with primary and secondary sources, including photographs, documents, census records, oral histories, our school log book and authentic artefacts. They learn to ask how reliable a source is and why accounts of the past differ.
  
  
• Scaffolded thinking. Teachers scaffold learning carefully, modelling how historians work so that pupils can build informed perspectives and judgements and make relevant comparisons in a safe and stimulating environment.
  
  
• Chronology and timelines. Every classroom has a timeline showing events pupils have studied in earlier years. Teachers refer to it whenever new learning is introduced, so pupils understand where it fits. This is especially important in our two-year cycle, where pupils may meet periods out of chronological order.
  
  
• Key themes. Homes, children and rule of law recur across topics. Pupils compare them across periods, for example Stone Age homes, Victorian homes in the railway village and wartime homes.
  
  
• Vocabulary. We teach substantive vocabulary (such as monarchy, invasion and democracy) and disciplinary vocabulary (such as source, evidence and continuity) explicitly, using the Kapow vocabulary progression. Chronological language, such as decade, century, BC and AD, builds year by year.
  
  
• Significant individuals. Pupils study people who have shaped our nation and the world, and learn to judge what makes someone historically significant.
  
  
• Oracy. Pupils discuss, debate and justify their views, using sentence stems to explain cause, consequence and significance.
  
  
• Revisiting and retrieval. Lessons open with short retrieval tasks, and the key themes and timelines help pupils connect new knowledge with what they already know, so it sticks in long-term memory.
  
  
• Cross-curricular links. History connects with geography (Swindon's growth, Avebury), English (reading and writing about the past), art and design technology.

Inclusion

Our history curriculum is an entitlement for every pupil, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.

• Teachers adapt how content is taught, not what is taught, using visuals, pre-taught vocabulary, word banks, timelines and real objects.
  
  
• Handling artefacts and visiting local sites give every pupil concrete experiences of the past, whatever their background.
  
  
• Sources are chosen and adapted so that every pupil can access them.
  
  
• Pupils can show what they know in different ways, such as through talk, drama, drawing and annotated timelines, as well as in writing.
  
  
• Additional adults help pupils become more independent, so every pupil still benefits from the class teacher's teaching.

Assessment and impact

We measure impact by what pupils know, remember and can do.

• During lessons: questioning, retrieval quizzes and discussion show teachers what pupils have understood, and teaching is adjusted straight away.
  
  
• End of topic: every pupil should be able to name a significant event, a significant figure and an aspect of historical change from the topic, and place them on the class timeline. Pupils also answer the topic's enquiry question and complete a short knowledge check.
  
  
• Pupil voice: the subject leader talks with pupils about what they remember and how topics connect through the key themes.
  
  
• Subject leadership: the subject leader looks at books, visits lessons and uses what they find to refine the curriculum and support staff.

By the end of Year 6, pupils will have a secure understanding of chronology from prehistoric Britain to the present day. They will be able to explain how homes, childhood and rule of law have changed over time. They will use sources critically, and understand how Britain has influenced, and been influenced by, the wider world.