At Trekenner, we want History to inspire curiosity about the past and help children understand how people, events and societies have shaped the world in which they live today. Our curriculum is rooted in the National Curriculum and develops secure knowledge of British, local and world history, alongside the skills children need to think and work like historians.
Our Trekenner Tree of History
Our History curriculum follows our Trekenner Tree model, enabling knowledge and historical thinking to grow progressively from Roots in EYFS, through the Trunk in KS1 and Branches in Lower KS2, to the Leaves in Upper KS2.
Children build their understanding through six Golden Threads that are revisited throughout their time at Trekenner:
Chronology • Continuity & Change • Cause & Consequence • Similarities & Differences • Historical Significance • Historical Enquiry – Working Like a Historian
These threads help children make connections between different periods rather than seeing History as a collection of separate topics. As children progress through school, they move from noticing and describing the past towards explaining, analysing, evaluating and reaching their own evidence-based historical conclusions.
Alongside these Golden Threads, children encounter recurring aspects of history including Civilisation, Empire, Movement, Democracy, Monarchy & Rule, Conflict and Remembrance. Revisiting these ideas in different contexts helps children connect new learning to what they already know and develop an increasingly rich understanding of the past.
Working Like a Historian
We want our children to understand that History is not simply about remembering dates and facts. Historians ask questions and use evidence to find out about the past.
Beginning with stories, photographs and objects in EYFS, children learn to ask the important question:
How do we know?
As they move through school, they encounter an increasingly wide range of historical sources. They learn to question evidence, compare accounts, recognise different viewpoints and understand that historians may interpret the past differently. By Year 6, children are increasingly able to devise historical questions, investigate them and use evidence to construct and justify their own conclusions.
Cornwall and Our Local History
Our location provides rich opportunities for children to explore Cornwall's distinctive history and heritage. Local history helps children connect the people, places and events around them with wider developments in British and world history.
Through this, children develop a sense of identity, place and belonging, while recognising that the history of their own community forms part of a much bigger story.
Our CARE Values
History provides many opportunities to develop our CARE values:
Connect – making connections between people, places, periods and our own community.
Achieve – developing the knowledge and confidence to think and communicate like historians.
Respect – understanding different cultures, experiences and perspectives from the past.
Explore – asking questions, investigating evidence and remaining curious about our world.
Ultimately, we want every Trekenner child to leave us with a curiosity about the past, a secure sense of chronology and the confidence to question, investigate and use evidence. Most importantly, we want them to understand that studying History helps us make sense not only of where we have come from, but of the world we live in today.
