History Curriculum  

The History curriculum at The Duston School provides the foundations for pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and it inspires pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. 

The Primary Knowledge Curriculum is used to plan The Duston School History curriculum. Our curriculum is well-sequenced, using a largely chronological approach, and knowledge is valued and specified. Knowledge is taught to be remembered through retrieval practice and prior knowledge being revisited. Substantive and disciplinary knowledge are intertwined and revisited to ensure that children have a firm understanding of key concepts including: democracy, migration, monarchy and empire.  

Discrete History lessons are taught, recognising the identity of the discipline, fostering a love for subject content that will flourish as children move through the curriculum. Links are made across the curriculum so that children can make connections to further embed their learning. 

The Duston School History curriculum covers all objectives from the National Curriculum. To ensure that our History curriculum is ambitious and meets the needs of the children at The Duston School, we have also included the History units: