Improving curriculum planning

Developing effective plans for history at key stage 1

The programme of study for history at key stage 1 was revised in 2000 to make it more flexible and less prescriptive. This gives schools the opportunity to review their existing plans for history to maximise children's learning, make the subject even more relevant to their needs and experiences, and enhance links to other areas of the curriculum.

These sections aim to answer the questions that history coordinators and history teachers most frequently ask about planning at key stage 1.

The three elements of curriculum planning

There are three elements to curriculum planning:

• long-term plans, called 'key stage plans' in this website
• medium-term plans (units, topics or enquiries), called 'enquiry plans' in this website
• short-term plans, also called 'lesson' or 'weekly plans'.

For more detail on long term, medium term and short term planning in history at key stage 1, choose from the menu on the right.