Curriculum Design: Key Stage 1

There is very little prescriptive content for history Key Stage 1. This is both a blessing and a curse. Although it gives you freedom to experiment with lots of interesting and innovative approaches, it also means that it is largely left to you to decide. This brings concerns of its own. When you are new to the role of subject leader, it is often difficult to persuade colleagues to innovate or go beyond the statutory minimum. You are left pondering several key questions, left largely unanswered by the National Curriculum History Programme of Study .

• How can the integrity of history be maintained in an increasingly cross-curricular approach?
• What is the best way of preserving all that excellent history practice?
• How can we ensure that we exploit the maximum potential of existing history-led topics to develop pupils' creativity and their thinking skills?

In addition there are also the very specific issues to do with the National Curriculum orders which are still valid for the next few years until any changes to the curriculum as a result of the Rose review are implemented.

How much time should I be devoting to each topic? Surely some are longer than others, but in our school all our topics are half-termly?

How many famous people should I include and who should they be?

Which famous events should I include?

I know it makes sense to start with the pupils' own lives and move backwards in time, but I have often found that using the more distant past say Victorian washday in Y1 is more effective in consolidating key concepts than looking at the recent past. Who is right on this ?

The curriculum section focuses on the key issues to do with: having a clear rationale for the delivery of the subject; planning for a good balance of skills and conceptual development across the key stage; making the most of all opportunities to develop literacy, numeracy, ICT , thinking skills and creativity. You will find detailed advice on all these aspects, along with case studies of outstanding practice. The lesson on the life of Florence Nightingale using number lines and strips of coloured paper is a great example of what the site does so well. It shows you what the best schools are doing and encourages you to try out and adapt some of their ideas.

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