Foundations for History in EYFS

In Nursery, our pupils begin to make sense of their own life-story and family’s history. ‘News time’ each week helps the children talk about their past-what happened, when etc.  A ‘special times’ activity is sent home and parents are asked to stick photographs and information about the events that have happened in their families’ lives. The children love sharing these in school especially baby photographs which compare then and now. A mother and baby visit occurs each year to talk about what it is/was like for them to be a baby.

During their Reception Year, the children will talk about the lives of people around them and their roles in society.  We use our parent and local community to invite in nurses, postmen, firefighters (to name a few) to talk about their roles and the children always enjoy asking questions to find out about their jobs.

 The children learn how to recognise some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.  The children also learn how to understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and through storytelling.  One of our favourite texts to support this early development knowledge and understanding in History is ‘Nothing’ by Mick Inkpen, which is a lovely story that helps children understand about ‘the past’ and generations of people as it tells the story of a Grandad who had a toy as a baby that is found in the attic of a house. It explores the use of a photograph album filled with black and white baby photos of the now Grandad.

This work in the Early Years prepares our pupils for historical learning in KS1:  understanding changes in living memory, knowing about events beyond living memory as well as the lives of significant individuals.  Children are also prepared to develop further their understanding of historical events, people, and places in their own locality.