At The Mead Infant and Nursery School we want our children to develop a secure knowledge of historical events, a wide historical vocabulary and a curiosity for the past. Our children will become learners who ask questions and have a thirst for knowledge and interest in finding out about events.

We begin in Nursery and Reception by using the children’s own personal experiences, and those of their families, to help them begin to develop an awareness of the past. We do this by drawing up their own personal time line, including birthdays and celebrations, and by listening to and questioning visitors talking about the recent past.

Children in Key Stage 1 extend their awareness of the past beyond living memory by comparing national life in different periods of time and studying individuals and events that are of national or global significance, such as the history of flight and the Great Fire of London and The Victorians. As in geography, we do this within cross-curricular topics which allow us to strengthen and enrich our children’s historical knowledge and understanding by linking work in other subjects, such as art and English, wherever possible. Children are also introduced to the skills of historical enquiry as we encourage them to ask questions and form judgements about events in the past and to begin to consider the reliability of different sources of evidence. We also enjoy visits to places which are of local historical significance.