We were delighted to have been assessed by the History Association and awarded their Gold quality mark for our outstanding History curriculum.

Here are some comments from the report:

‘The curriculum is well-designed, coherent and progressive across the school. A bespoke detailed long-term plan is designed to ensure depth of learning.’

‘planning is well sequenced to build knowledge and skills’ 

‘supporting EAL pupils is a clear strength of the school’

‘effective tracking based on valid criteria for progression is a strong feature’

‘History is extremely well managed and organised by subject leaders’

‘The whole school ethos is very much one of constant improvement, tweaking and adapting everything to make it the best it can be for each class of children.’

 

At Smithdown Primary, we believe that fostering a rich understanding of local and global history is essential in developing self-identity. We look back to explore how ancient civilisations have shaped the world and different cultures and examine significant events and eras in British history. This knowledge allows children to appreciate how a democratic and multi-cultural Britain evolved whilst developing a deep understanding of chronology.

By developing the skills of enquiry, investigation, analysis, evaluation and presentation, we aim to enable children to think as historians. We place emphasis on providing children with first-hand experiences through learning visits to historical sites and providing access to historical artefacts. We focus on helping children understand that historical events can be interpreted in different ways and children are encouraged to ask searching questions. By learning the skills to uncover the past, we believe children will be able to make informed choices for the future.

In Key Stage 1 children will develop an awareness of the past. They will learn about significant individuals who have contributed to national and international achievements. Children will also learn about significant historical events within the local area. They will also study changes within living memory as well as events beyond living memory that are nationally or globally significant such as The Great Fire of London. Their learning will be placed within a chronological framework.

In Key Stage 2 children will continue to appreciate history in a chronological context. They will develop a secure understanding of British, local and world history. In upper key stage 2 they will study Ancient Greece and the Anglo Saxons, whilst in lower key stage 2 they will study the Ancient Egyptians and the Victorians.  Children will consider connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They will also learn to understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of different sources and spend time looking at, and dealing with, different sources.

Progression in History will be assessed through listening to children’s responses and contributions to discussions and evaluating their written work.  Please click on the links below for more details about our History curriculum.

National Curriculum for History

Whole School Curriculum Plan 2024-2025

Progression in historical skills

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History Chatter

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WW2 Workshop

02-04-2025

Today we had a visitor in to teach us about WW2. We trained to become special volunteer police officers and followed commands given in the war. We looked at Erie facts and even had time to role play.

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Year 1 have been learning all about Kitty Wilkinson. We discovered how she helped create the first wash house and how people used to clean clothes!

28-03-2025

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Victorian Census Study

24-03-2025

We explored the 1851 census before exploring life for the poor in Victorian Liverpool.

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Retrieval Practice

18-03-2025

This half term we are learning about the Victorians, but we don’t want to forget what we have learnt about our previous topic on the ancient civilisation of Baghdad. So, we played a game called Quiz, Quiz, Trade. This game involves asking questions  to see how much we have remembered. We did really well!

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What was the impact of the Industrial Revolution?

10-03-2025

In groups we compared an artist’s depiction of an area in Britain in the 1830s to how it had changed by
the 1890s. We discovered the changes in landscape were due to the Industrial Revolution. We then learnt about 7 key changes and ordered them by importance using a diamond nine activity.

 

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What is our mystery object?

05-03-2025

In groups we investigated a mystery object. What was it? What was it used for? Who would have owned and used it?

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Prime Minster Chamberlain’s announcement – WW2

05-03-2025

Today we used freeze frames to think about how people might have felt during the announcement of WW2. We looked at the different reactions in our book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ and compared different emotions.

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Ancient Civilisations – AS Creatives

28-02-2025

Thank you to AS Creatives for our workshop this afternoon focusing on Ancient Civilisations.

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Year 4 Early Civilisations Workshop

28-02-2025

We had the best morning using drama to learn about early civilisations, with a focus on Baghdad (Early Islamic Civilisations).

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Goodnight Mr Tom- our new English book

25-02-2025

Yesterday we looked at clues for our new book ’Goodnight Mr Tom’. We wrote predictions and today we discussed evacuations from cities to the countryside and arguments for and against. We invited in Mrs Ridley to walk down our ‘conscience alley’ to hear our reasons.  

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Amazing Roman inspired mosaics by Year 4

14-02-2025

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Palaeolithic Stone Age

13-02-2025

We made art that we would find in Palaeolithic caves. We worked together and made our caves walls as realistic as we could.

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We Won! Well, the suffragettes did!

06-02-2025

Reaching the end of our unit, we learnt how the voting situation changed for women. Those courageous ladies achieved their aim and helped shape society today.

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Stone Age Workshop

06-02-2025

Year 3 had a lovely afternoon learning even more about the Stone Age and being able to hold a variety of artefacts including, animal bones, types of rock, pictures and even seeing how people during the Stone Age created fire!

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Archaeologist Visit

06-02-2025

We had an amazing visit from a local archaeologist, Dr Hill, who brought with him so many artefacts from the Stone Age and Bronze Age. We had time to look at stone axes, arrow heads, tools and weapons made from bone and so much more!

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5JH Lion dance to celebrate the Lunar new year! 🐲

29-01-2025

We had an amazing afternoon in our lion dancing workshop. Happy Lunar New Year!

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Running stitch

28-01-2025

We all practised our binca running stitch so that we are ready to create our 150 year celebratory bunting.

 

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Who was Al- Zahrawi and what did he achieve?

28-01-2025

Yesterday we used pictorial artefacts to investigate a mystery person. We generated questions and then answered them using the internet. Finally some children were hot-seated in role.

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Imagining we are cave people!

22-01-2025

Today, year 3 mixed their history knowledge on the Palaeolithic cave people with their art skills by recreating cave art with charcoal. The children worked like our artist Laura McKendry  and completed a group activity on the floor. This allowed them to work on a bigger scale and move around their work.

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Palaeolithic Cave Art

22-01-2025

We all collaborated to create cave art using charcoal. Combining art skills and history knowledge means amazing work!

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Who was Emmeline Pankhurst?

21-01-2025

We have been finding out exactly this! Along with research and presentation, some of us sketched our own pictures of Emmeline too!

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Suffragists and Suffragettes… what’s the difference?

10-01-2025

This is the question we are investigating in History this week …

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Our new book… Hidden Figures

08-01-2025

We have looked through all our clues for our upcoming book… Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. We will be discussing new vocabulary such as racism, segregation, civil rights, controversy and many more!

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In History, we have been looking at old toys. We had fun playing with them and thinking about how toys have changed!

13-12-2024

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Transatlantic slave trade

05-12-2024

Today we looked at different pictures of artefacts in museums around the world and how they were used during the transatlantic slave trade. We discussed the life of an enslaved person and the hardships they faced.

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Extra work at home!

28-11-2024

Some incredible examples of extra work done at home. I have loved seeing how passionate we are about negative numbers, Olaudah Equiano and Roman numeral – keep it up, we love proudly displaying your work!

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International Slavery Museum trip

21-11-2024

Yesterday we had a great time at the International Slavery Museum. We had a workshop in the ‘legacies of the transatlantic slave trade’ and then had time to explore the museum with our task sheets. 

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We learnt all about Remembrance Day and made some poppies to help us remember❤️

15-11-2024

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Remembrance Day

12-11-2024

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Remembrance Day

11-11-2024

We did our one minute silence. After, we used our sketching skills to create some Remembrance Day artwork.

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Some completed pencil poppy sketches

11-11-2024

Some of this work is stunning!

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Remembrance Day 2024

11-11-2024

11:00 11.11.2024

Huge respect in our class to recognise the soldiers that have fallen in the past. We did a minute silence in the morning and then created amazing poppy art work based on our art topic ‘painting with scissors’ in the afternoon.

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Amazing homework!

11-11-2024

Superstar 🌟sisters! Both have done work at home based on their current topics 👏. Well done guys.

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Remembrance Day Poppy Art

11-11-2024

After learning about Remembrance Day and importance of the symbol of the poppy, we had time to sketch our own poppies using pencil and oil crayons.

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We have been busy making poppy art and poppy biscuits today to mark Remembrance Day.

08-11-2024
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Painting with scissors

08-11-2024

We used our skills and techniques we have been practising by replicating how Henri Matisse created his art. We applied this method to our Ancient Egyptian topic in History.

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Marking Remembrance Day with poppy biscuits and poppy art.

07-11-2024
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A day in the life of a Roman soldier 🛡️

21-10-2024

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Deva Roman Experience

21-10-2024

Year 4 had “the best day ever” in Chester. We experienced life as a Roman soldier and learnt more about the Roman invasion in Britannia.

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3TS trip for Ancient Egypt

21-10-2024

Year 3 had a wonderful day exploring the museum and looking at the different artefacts from ancient Egyptian history. We walked the length of the River Nile and spoke about the process of mummification. We also watched some of our friends become Pharos!

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A great trip to the museum!

18-10-2024

Year 3 had an amazing day at the Liverpool Museum. We gained so much knowledge about Ancient Egypt which will help as we continue to study this topic in our history lessons. Mohammed, Azad and Banu dressed up as embalmers and they mummified a fake Egyptian body. It was a great opportunity for the children to learn all about this and step back in time. 😊

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Applying Painting with Scissors

07-10-2024

Year 3 had a great afternoon applying their painting with scissors skills to some Ancient Egyptian paintings. We discussed the pictures and what we could see, using our art vocabulary. We then had the challenge of focusing on a small part of these images and then had to recreate this.

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How did Rome begin?

25-09-2024

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Being an archaeologist!

19-09-2024

Year 3 all had a go at being an archaeologist and excavating some ancient Egyptian artefacts – just like Howard Carter!

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We became ARCHAEOLOGISTS

19-09-2024

WOW what an exciting afternoon! In history, the children learnt about Howard Carter and how he excavated ancient remains. The children then put their excavation skills to the test and uncovered some artefacts. They had great fun 🤩

 

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Black History Month ‘24

12-09-2024

Some AMAZING entries for the Merseyside Police competition! Children have worked hard creating lovely pieces of work with great messages as well. Well done to everyone who has submitted already. Last day tomorrow (Friday 13th September).

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Year 4 History Enquiry

10-09-2024

Year 4 generated questions and predicted events around Roman artefacts.

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Historical Enquiry – The Romans 🏺🏛️

09-09-2024

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Year 3 History

05-09-2024

Today we have recapped living memory and beyond living memory in History from year 1 and 2 topics.

 

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Greek Pottery

09-07-2024

We are starting to learn about all the different styles, colours, shapes and uses of Ancient Greek pottery here in Y6.

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Ancient Greek School Posters

19-06-2024

After learning about life in Ancient Sparta and Athens, we researched Greek schools and what would be taught in each. Following this, we presented our information in a poster ./ information page format. Hope you like them!

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5EHD Martin Mere trip

15-05-2024

Year 5 had a fantastic time learning about Anglo Saxon and Viking daily life in Martin Mere. We learned how to weave, fight in battle, make a thatched roof and forage for medicine and food in the woods

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Bell Beaker Pottery

07-05-2024

Super work creating our Bronze Age Bell Beaker pots. We created a similar shape and added patterns to them.

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We had a good afternoon discussing how housing had changed and improved over time and what Bronze Age Roundhouses would have looked like.

24-04-2024

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We looked at how people from the Bronze Age would have mined for copper and tin to create their tools and weapons. We acted out this process.

18-04-2024

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Year 4 had a great day at the Deva Roman experience in Chester!! They even walked around as Roman soldiers!!

26-03-2024

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The Smithdown Romans!

25-03-2024

What a great day we had in Chester at the Deva Experience! We marched the streets of Chester and learned lots of interesting facts about the Roman Empire.

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The History of Telling The Time for Science Week

14-03-2024

We combined science with history with our TIME topic and looked at how tools to tell the time have changed over the years. We created a timeline of discoveries and measured out our own sundials with our protractors.

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What an exciting afternoon! We had an archaeologist join us to show us artefacts from the Stone Age. We really enjoyed learning more about our topic and demonstrating all of our knowledge we have gained so far.

23-02-2024

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This superstar made a spear that may have been used in the Stone Age to hunt various animals at home.

22-02-2024

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Super visit to Calderstones and the Storybarn today! We explored how Stone Age people would have lived using the land and trees around them. We also had the chance to see the Calder Stones that were over 4,800 years old.

22-02-2024

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Expressive Collages! Titanic Art

19-02-2024

We worked hard in art today to make expressive collages of the Titanic.

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We have combined our knowledge of Palaeolithic cave art with skills and techniques acquired from Laura McKendry.

24-01-2024

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WWII Liverpool Skyline ‘The Blitz’ Scenes

18-01-2024

We created our own versions of the Liverpool skyline one night during The Blitz in World War Two.

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Using historical sources

24-11-2023

We read some accounts of evacuation during WW2, comparing content and explaining what information and evidence each source provided.

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Where did Ibn Battuta travel?

23-11-2023

We have been investigating our first explorer Ibn Battuta in Year 2. We researched the countries he visited and how he travelled today.

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What was operation Pied Piper?

17-11-2023

We have been looking at evacuation and it’s impact on children during the war – we examined some sources and discussed what they were and their intentions!

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Remembrance Day 2023

13-11-2023

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Year 2 have made remembrance poppies today

10-11-2023

2GH made some beautiful poppies to help us remember today.

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Remembrance Day

10-11-2023

For Remembrance Day, we read the poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and after discussing the content, we embellished the poem with images of poppies.

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Remembrance Day

10-11-2023

We have created some beautiful poems after reading Flanders Fields and used watercolours/charcoal/pencils to create some poppy artwork to mark Remembrance Day.

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Using Henri Matisse’s style, painting with scissors, Year 3 created poppies to show their respect for all the people who have lost their lives and our thoughts for their families.

10-11-2023

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How and Why did WW2 Start?

10-11-2023

We have started our WW2 topic by exploring who was involved, how it began and why. We made a double page spread to answer our enquiry!

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4KM had a great history lesson this afternoon learning all about the Victorian classrooms…

19-10-2023

4KM had a great history lesson this afternoon learning all about the Victorian classrooms and comparing them to modern day classrooms. The children finished off the lesson with some role play of learning in a Victorian classrooom!! #smithdownhist

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What ancient Egyptians believed about death?

19-10-2023

What ancient Egyptians believed about death? We used role play to become priests that would have preserved bodies and prepared them for being buried. We washed, pulled organs out, placed the body in salt, embalmed the body and then placed it into a coffin. #smithdownhist

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Fun learning about mummification in History!

19-10-2023

This afternoon, 3KM have had so much fun learning about mummification in History! #smithdownhis #smithdownyr3

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What an exciting afternoon excavating some Ancient Egyptian artefacts!

19-10-2023

What an exciting afternoon excavating some Ancient Egyptian artefacts! We all became archaeologists and discovered things like Howard Carter. We found some things that may have belonged to Tutankhamen. ⚰️?? #smithdownhist

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Year 3 have had fun being Archaeologists this afternoon!

19-10-2023

Year 3 have had fun being Archaeologists this afternoon! We have been using a picking tool to remove the dirt, look at what we discovered! ? #smithdownhis #smithdowny3

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What a week it has been already!

19-10-2023

What a week it has been already! Year 3 children have settled in so well and demonstrated their maturity and attitude towards their work. They could remember lots of their previous learning in History. They could organise events into living memory and beyond. #smithdownhist

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