“People say history is important because it helps us to predict the future. I don’t think that it does. What it really teaches you is that things have not always been the same, and they don’t have to be the way they are.” Lucy Worsley 

What is a world without change? Without stories? Without discoveries and invention? Without learning from the past? At Madresfield, historians are born. 

A curriculum built upon exploration of the past, curiosity of artefacts and critical thinking we enable our children to promote change and development of our world. By exploring sources, we encourage them to bring history to life and learn in a dynamic and collaborative way. 

Madresfield's map to proficient historians

The first steps to becoming a successful historian:

• Linking meaningful experiences
• Understand the past through story telling
• Be aware of changes throughout the year 
• Being exposed to high quality artefacts and sources. 

In EYFS I am 4, I am so new to this world, so much of what has happened in the world is history to me. I don't have many experiences to draw upon but that's what makes history exciting! I'm told the dinosaurs were millions of years ago, what does million even look like? People tell me things that happened in the world recently, it's not recent to me... it was before I was born. I'm so excited to find out what came before me, which people were important and why. I may only be small but I have a life time of discoveries to make.

I can:

• Talk about members of my family
• Name and describe people who are familiar to me
• Compare and contrast characters from stories, including ones from the past
• I can use books to find out about the past
• Ask questions about the past

KS1 already? I've still so much to learn, so much of what has happened is still before I was born. I know more now though, I've learnt through stories and books. My concept of number has grown, how many years ago did you say dinosaurs were again? I want to know more! My curiosity is brighter than it has ever been. Why is my most asked question. History is exciting, teach me more! 

I can:

• Explain my understanding of the changes within and beyond my living memory.
• Share what I have learnt about the lives of significant people who have made a difference to the world.
• Describe a significant event, person, or place in local history.
• Use everything I have learnt to compare various times in history.
• Talk about artefacts found closer together in time.
• Recognise why people did things, why events happened and what the consequences were. 
• Use primary and secondary sources to answer questions and ask questions about the past. 
• Carry out own research to discover more about the past.
• Understand how all the periods of time, people and events fit together on a chronological timeline.

KS2, my final destination. History makes so much more sense now, I understand it's place and its time in history. The world before me is fascinating but I now realise I am living in a period of history. The choices I, and others, make around me shape what history looks like for future generations. I feel powerful, I feel like I can change the path that history takes because surely learning from the past is how we make a better future. The more I know, the more I realise that I don't know very much at all.

I can:

• Understand that historical periods have characteristics that distinguish them
• Understand the scale of periods of time
• Explain the significance of events, people and developments in Britain and the wider world.
• Explain that change can be brought about by conflict and traced by a census
• Consider a source’s audience, purpose, creator and accuracy to determine if it is a reliable source
• Address and devise historically relevant questions

It's time for new adventures, Year 7 awaits: new eras to discover, new sources to analyse, more opportunities to see history with my own eyes. I am a historian and because of that my journey is just beginning.