Looking to explore your subject area?
Find out how well History is really working in your school, gather the evidence to back it up and turn what you find into a clear plan of action.

This pack guides History subject leaders and senior leaders through a structured subject review, from choosing a focus to reporting back to SLT and governors. It looks at History in six areas: curriculum design and coverage, teaching and staff expertise, checking learning, access and provision, outcomes and pupil experience, and leadership and reporting. Each prompt asks you to note what’s in place, where the evidence is and how secure it is, so you finish with an honest RAG picture of the subject.

You don’t need to start from scratch or set aside weeks. The pack works alongside the curriculum maps, action plans and monitoring notes you already have. If time is tight, the ‘Starting point suggestion’ prompts give you a balanced first look that may fit into around half a day of release time, and you can go further later. If you’re new to monitoring, the guide explains how to run lesson visits, work scrutiny and pupil conversations as you go.

What’s included

A 12-page PDF guide that explains what a subject review is and takes you through one in five steps. It sits alongside five editable Word templates:

• History Subject Review Framework, the main document, with prompts across all six areas, evidence and RAG columns, and suggested starting points
• History Subject Provision Map, to show how pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and others facing barriers access History lessons and enrichment, with an ideas bank for next steps
• History Evidence Log, with a planning page, an evidence index and forms for lesson visits, pupil conversations and work scrutiny
• History Staff Subject Knowledge and Confidence Survey, an anonymous 14-question survey with analysis guidance, a statement bank and quick check questions to help you plan CPD
• History Subject Review Snapshot, a short summary of strengths, priorities and actions to share with SLT, governors or trust leaders
• Ideal for History subject leaders, curriculum leads, senior leaders and headteachers in primary and secondary schools in England.