Reception Topics

It is really important that your Foundation Stage teachers are not put off by the label ‘history’. You could quite rightly argue that the word does not exist in their Early Years curriculum. On the other hand, few will resist the need to talk about ‘the past’ and to help children grasp the notion of evidence. Indeed, they can make little progress in history if these early concepts are not laid down. You will notice that the new EYFS Framework from September 2021 now specifically refers to ‘Past and Present’ among the new Early learning Goals.

Getting the balance right so that it is not just a watered down version of KS1 is crucial. I would recommend a blend of hands-on activities to get the idea of evidence, lots of fictional stories to develop the notion of time past and as study of something from the past that the children can readily relate to. You will know yourself what works well. For me there should be 5 elements.

I would certainly want a topic on myself/family, making sure it was sensitively handled. I would also want to get the idea of evidence by using feely bag full of objects that tell us about people from the present and the past. I am passionate bout using nursery rhymes to get over the concept of the past too. Why didn’t Jack and Jill not just turn on the tap to get some water? Why didn’t Wee Willie Winkie not just use a torch? Why didn’t Polly not just switch the kettle on? Throughout the year I would be frequently using colourful fiction books as a focus for talking about the past and developing pupils’ language. As the year progresses I would want to move from then and now books to those that start to introduce the idea of generations. Finally, I would want to look at a topic such as Toys or Washday in the past, something for pupils to get their teeth into with plenty of objects to handle, role plays and home corners. The sort of things that make the learning really active and exciting.

This section offers a few simple lessons which deal with the main concepts, viz:

• there was a past: we talk about ‘then and now’
• life in the past was different from the present but is still recognisable in many respects
• we can look for clues from the past to help work out what it was like