Year 6 History Resources and Lesson Plans
Explore ready-to-teach Year 6 History resources, lesson plans and schemes of work covering engaging Year 6 History topics. Designed to support the Year 6 History curriculum, our resources help children consolidate their knowledge of British and world history while developing secure chronology, historical enquiry and the ability to analyse evidence, evaluate interpretations and form well-supported conclusions about the past.
Popular Year 6 History Schemes of Work:
What should children learn in Year 6 History?
In Year 6, children bring together the historical knowledge and enquiry skills they have developed across KS2. They should be able to make connections across periods, evaluate evidence and interpretations, and form increasingly well-supported conclusions about the past.
Connect learning across chronology
Use timelines to relate periods, events and developments across British and world history, making confident connections across centuries and wider historical themes.
Explain complex historical change
Encourage children to weigh multiple causes and consequences, identify patterns of change and continuity, and explain how different factors shaped historical developments.
Evaluate evidence critically
Compare primary and secondary sources, considering their usefulness, limitations and provenance, and use evidence carefully to support historical conclusions.
Form supported interpretations
Help children compare different accounts of the past, explain why interpretations may vary and construct their own historical arguments using evidence and reasoning.
Explore our Year 6 History Resources
Browse our complete collection of Year 6 History resources, lesson plans and schemes of work. Discover engaging Year 6 History topics covering British and world history, with ready-to-teach lessons designed to support the Year 6 History curriculum and help children consolidate their historical knowledge, make connections across periods, evaluate evidence and develop confident historical enquiry skills.
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Planning Year 6 History
When planning History in Year 6, choose topics that allow children to draw together the knowledge and historical thinking they have developed throughout KS2. Exploring significant periods of British and world history can help children make connections across time, compare societies and consider wider themes such as power, conflict, migration, belief, trade and social change within an increasingly secure chronological framework.
Give children opportunities to investigate historical questions independently, analyse and compare a range of sources, and use evidence to form well-supported conclusions. Encourage them to consider multiple causes and consequences, identify patterns of change and continuity, and evaluate why interpretations of the past may differ. By the end of Year 6, children should be increasingly confident at explaining and supporting their own historical ideas.
Planning History for your whole school? Explore our History Curriculum Packs →Frequently Asked Questions about Year 6 History
What History topics are taught in Year 6?
There is no fixed set of History topics that every Year 6 class must study because schools can organise the KS2 History curriculum across Years 3 to 6 in different ways. Popular Year 6 History topics include Ancient Greece, World War I, World War II, the Victorians and themes in British history beyond 1066, such as Crime and Punishment or Medicine and Disease. The topics you teach will depend on how your school has mapped the National Curriculum across KS2.
What should children learn in Year 6 History?
In Year 6, children should consolidate the historical knowledge and skills they have developed throughout KS2. They should become increasingly confident at making connections across periods, explaining causes and consequences, identifying patterns of change and continuity, analysing historical evidence and considering different interpretations of the past.
What are some good Year 6 History activities?
Effective Year 6 History activities include analysing primary and secondary sources, comparing historical accounts, constructing and interpreting timelines, investigating causes and consequences, debating historical questions and using evidence to reach and justify conclusions. Activities can encourage greater independence, giving children opportunities to select and organise evidence to support their historical thinking.
What should a Year 6 History lesson include?
A Year 6 History lesson should combine secure historical knowledge with opportunities for enquiry, interpretation and reasoning. Children might investigate a historical question, compare different sources or interpretations, explore the causes of an event or examine patterns of change and continuity. Activities and worksheets can then help pupils organise evidence and communicate well-supported conclusions.
How can I develop historical enquiry skills in Year 6?
Give children opportunities to investigate increasingly complex historical questions using a range of evidence. Year 6 pupils can compare sources, consider their usefulness and limitations, identify gaps in the available evidence and recognise that different interpretations can be formed from the same historical material. Encourage children to use evidence explicitly when explaining and justifying their conclusions.
Where can I find Year 6 History lesson plans and resources?
PlanBee's Year 6 History resources include complete schemes of work and ready-to-teach lessons covering a range of KS2 History topics. Schemes include teaching slides, differentiated activities, worksheets and supporting resources, providing teachers with everything they need to teach engaging Year 6 History lessons.
How does Year 6 History fit into the KS2 History curriculum?
Year 6 is the final year of Key Stage 2, but there are no separate National Curriculum History requirements specifically for Year 6. Schools have flexibility over when individual KS2 History topics are taught. A well-planned Year 6 History curriculum can therefore consolidate previous learning, strengthen children's chronological framework and provide opportunities to apply increasingly sophisticated historical enquiry and reasoning skills.
How can Year 6 History prepare children for secondary school?
Year 6 History can prepare children for KS3 by encouraging greater independence when investigating the past. Pupils can practise analysing evidence, comparing interpretations, making connections across different periods and constructing historical explanations supported by evidence. These skills provide a strong foundation for the more detailed historical study they will encounter at secondary school.
Are PlanBee Year 6 History resources aligned with the National Curriculum?
Yes. PlanBee's Year 6 History schemes of work are designed to support National Curriculum History requirements at KS2. They combine historical knowledge with opportunities to develop chronology, enquiry, interpretation and evidence skills through structured lessons and activities.
