History

We believe that history is for everyone. Learning about the past helps our pupils make sense of the present, and it offers powerful opportunities for connection, curiosity, and personal growth.

History lessons are carefully adapted to ensure that all learners can engage meaningfully. For some students, this may mean exploring key events and figures through storytelling, drama, or sensory experiences. For others, it might involve hands-on activities with historical artefacts, interactive timelines, or multimedia resources that bring the past to life.

History supports a wide range of developmental areas:

• Communication and language: Discussing past events, describing people and places, and building vocabulary through themed topics 

• Cognitive skills: Sequencing events, understanding change over time, and making simple comparisons between then and now

• Social and emotional learning: Developing empathy by learning how people lived, what they experienced, and how communities have changed

For pupils with more severe and profound needs, history can be experienced through rich, multi-sensory activities. Tactile objects, music from different eras, role play, and sensory stories allow students to access the subject in a meaningful and enjoyable way. These approaches support engagement, anticipation, and interaction, while also reinforcing core skills such as turn-taking, listening, and choice-making.

Learning about history also fosters a sense of identity and belonging. It helps learners understand their place in the world and introduces them to cultural traditions, local heritage, and global events that shape the lives of people today.

Most importantly, history encourages curiosity and imagination, qualities we nurture in every learner, regardless of level of need. We ensure that all pupils are included in exploring the past in ways that are relevant, accessible, and enriching.

History 5 year plan

Blue Pathway 

Learning takes place in a multisensory and experiential manner to suit the needs of learners. Students in this Pathway may work on better understanding object permanence, so that they can consider what has happened in the past or learning may be related to the passing of time through engaging activities such as ‘Days of the week’. They will consider what has occurred in their lives so far through examining their own baby or childhood photos and they will explore historical places in our local community such as Ely Cathedral or the Oliver Cromwell museum.

Green Pathway

History is taught within the ‘My World’ area of the Green Pathway. It draws on links to topics and familiar texts that inspire and challenge learners and is taught in a practical and hands-on manner. Practical activities range from building castles using junk modelling, sampling recipes from the past or dressing up as characters from a certain historical era. Visits to The Toy Museum or Ely Museum will also take place throughout the year.

Teachers use pupils' and their families own lives and experiences to illustrate history. Students gain an understanding of how we need to respect and care for historical artefacts; begin to compare how we live today to events of the past and begin to understand how the past has shaped our world today. They know about some similarities and differences between themselves and people from the past and gain an understanding of the passing of time.

Yellow Pathway

History is taught as a discrete lesson in the Yellow Pathway. Learning takes place through topic based work and is brought to life through visits to places such as Denny Abbey Museum, the Museum of Anthropology or the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

We sequence lessons to ensure that students have covered the skills required to meet the aims of the National Curriculum, making considered adaptations for their learning needs.

Teachers make learning more relevant and engaging by incorporating History into a cross-curricular plan to work alongside other subjects such as Design Technology, English and Art. Students gain an understanding of chronology by looking at events in a sequential order and learn about historical enquiry and the important of understanding a source's reliability. 

Impact

Impact is seen in a multitude of ways. With some of our learners, we may see increases in explorative skills, interaction, engagement and attention or showing curiosity. Other students may show the impact of historical learning through an increased vocabulary, development of specific knowledge and skills or the ability to have a conversation with someone about links between past and current world events.