History

At Robert Bakewell, we believe that history helps children understand the world they live in today by exploring the people, events and civilisations that have shaped it. Through an engaging and inclusive curriculum, we inspire curiosity about the past, encourage critical thinking and develop children's understanding of how history continues to influence their lives and communities.

Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and is delivered through a carefully planned two-year rolling programme. History is taught weekly during alternating half terms with Geography, ensuring children build their historical knowledge and disciplinary skills progressively throughout their primary years.

We use Key Stage History to support and strengthen our curriculum and, as members of the Historical Association, we are committed to delivering ambitious, engaging and research-informed history teaching.

Developing Young Historians

Each history unit is driven by a key enquiry question, with lessons carefully sequenced to help children know more, remember more and understand more over time.

Throughout the curriculum, pupils develop the key disciplinary concepts of history, including:

• Chronological understanding

• Cause and consequence

• Similarity and difference

• Continuity and change

• Historical significance

• Historical enquiry

• Interpretation of evidence

Alongside these concepts, children develop a rich historical vocabulary, enabling them to discuss the past confidently, analyse historical evidence and make meaningful connections across different periods of history.

Bringing History to Life

History comes alive through first-hand experiences, educational visits, workshops, historical artefacts, visitors and high-quality texts that deepen children's understanding of each topic.

We are proud of the rich local history surrounding our school and use it to help children develop a strong sense of place and identity. As a school named after Robert Bakewell (1725–1795), children learn about his pioneering work in selective livestock breeding, which transformed farming across Britain and around the world. His legacy of innovation, curiosity and determination to improve the world continues to inspire our school community today. In 2025, we celebrated the 300th anniversary of Robert Bakewell’s birth, marking this significant milestone through whole-school learning and special curriculum enrichment activities.

Throughout their time at Robert Bakewell, pupils explore the history of Loughborough and Leicestershire, discovering how the local area has contributed to national and international history. Children learn about Victorian Loughborough, the Great Fire of Loughborough, the town's famous Bell Foundry, the Carillon War Memorial, and the achievements of local entrepreneur Thomas Cook. Learning is enriched through visits to local heritage sites, including Charnwood Museum and the Jewry Wall Museum, helping children make meaningful connections between local, national and global history.

Annual events such as Robert Bakewell Day, alongside our whole-school corridor timeline, further enrich the curriculum by helping children develop a secure understanding of chronology while celebrating the history of our school and local community.

History in the Early Years

Historical learning begins in the Early Years through the Past and Present aspect of Understanding the World. Through stories, photographs, discussion and play, children begin to explore how people, places and everyday life have changed over time. They compare the past with the present, recognise important people in their lives and develop an awareness of how the world changes, providing strong foundations for future historical learning.

Supporting Every Learner

History lessons are carefully adapted to ensure all pupils can access and succeed in the curriculum. Learning is broken down into small, manageable steps to reduce cognitive load and enable children to build knowledge securely over time. Teachers use a range of strategies, including dual-coded vocabulary, visual resources, artefacts, pre-teaching, adult support and adapted recording methods, ensuring every child can develop as a confident historian.

Our aim is for every child to leave Robert Bakewell Primary School with a secure understanding of Britain's past and the wider world, an appreciation of the rich history of Loughborough and Leicestershire, and the curiosity and critical thinking skills to question, investigate and learn from history.