This History scheme of work  video equips teachers with strategies to help pupils use historical sources to investigate the past. It defines what sources are: written, visual, oral or physical, and explains how they become meaningful evidence when used to support historical claims.

Teachers are guided on how to introduce source-based enquiry from Reception through to Year 6. Early examples include handling objects from living memory and comparing visual materials, while older pupils can work with maps, census data or archaeological finds. The video encourages progression by developing questioning skills and providing historical context so pupils can make sense of what they’re studying.

The distinction between a source and evidence is clearly outlined, and the video introduces a simple enquiry framework:
1. Acquire background knowledge → 2. Explore sources → 3. Ask questions → 4. Formulate an enquiry → 5. Make deductions.

Teachers are also introduced to the roles of archaeologists, archivists and historians to help pupils understand how knowledge of the past is constructed.

See more of our Year 3 and Year 4 and our Year 5 and Year 6 History scheme of work.

• History, Year 3, British history 1: Would you prefer to have lived in the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age?, Lesson 3: Who was this Bronze Age man?
• History, Year 4, British history 3: What changed in Britain after the Anglo-Saxon invasion?, Lesson 5: Was King Alfred really ‘Great’?
• History, Year 5, British history 5: What was life like in Tudor England?, Lesson 3: Why was Anne Boleyn executed?
• History, Year 6, What was the impact of World War 2 on the people of Britain?, Lesson 3: What do sources tell us about the Blitz?