Key Stage 1 · ages 5 to 7
Key Stage 1 history: what your child learns
In Years 1 and 2, history starts close to home with changes within living memory, then moves to events and people from long ago. Schools choose the examples, such as the Great Fire of London, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, or Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole, and also study a person or place in the local area. Children use words like “before” and “long ago” and start asking how we know what happened.
Guides for parents
Key Stage 1 history
Changes within living memory
What Years 1 and 2 learn about how life has changed since their parents and grandparents were young, with a worked example, common mistakes and ideas for home.
Key Stage 1 history
Festivals and anniversaries
How Years 1 and 2 learn about past events we still remember each year, such as Bonfire Night and Remembrance Day, with a worked example, mix-ups and ideas for home.
Key Stage 1 history
The first aeroplane flight
What Years 1 and 2 learn about the Wright brothers and the first powered aeroplane flight in 1903, how we know, common mix-ups and simple ways to explore flight at home.
Key Stage 1 history
The Great Fire of London
What Years 1 and 2 learn about the Great Fire of London in 1666: how it started and spread, how we know from Samuel Pepys’s diary, common mix-ups and ideas for home.
Key Stage 1 history
Finding out about the past
How Years 1 and 2 learn to use objects, photographs, stories and memories as clues to the past, ask good questions of them and spot different versions of events.
Key Stage 1 history
Local history
How Key Stage 1 children study events, people and places in their own area, how they use old photographs and memories as sources, and how to help at home.
Key Stage 1 history
Campaigners and carers
How Key Stage 1 children learn about Rosa Parks, Emily Davison, Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell, and how to talk about them with your child.
Key Stage 1 history
Columbus and Neil Armstrong
How Years 1 and 2 compare the explorers Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, two journeys almost 500 years apart, with a worked example and common mix-ups.
Key Stage 1 history
Communicators and artists from the past
What Key Stage 1 children learn about William Caxton, Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry, how they compare people, and ways to help at home.
Key Stage 1 history
Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria
How Years 1 and 2 compare Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, two queens who ruled for decades in very different times, with a worked example and common mix-ups.
Key Stage 1 history
Time words and timelines
How Years 1 and 2 learn the language of time, from yesterday and long ago to timelines, with common mistakes and easy ways to build a sense of the past at home.
Everything in the Key Stage 1 history curriculum
The National Curriculum topics for Key Stage 1, in the order the National Curriculum lists them.
Changes within living memory
Events beyond living memory
Significant individuals
- Significant monarchs compared: Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria
- Significant explorers compared: Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong
- Significant communicators and artists: William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry
- Significant campaigners and carers: Rosa Parks and Emily Davison, Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell