Developing chronological understanding is an essential aspect of teaching history. It is vital to give children reference points, opportunities to revisit previously studied time periods, and the chance to see the links and overlaps.

These timelines help children become secure in their chronological understanding. The timelines are like chronological knowledge organisers, allowing children to record any knowledge relevant to the chronology of the units they are studying.

KS1 year group timelines

The set of timelines designed for KS1 gives children in each year group the chance to revisit prior learning about chronology from their previous years at primary school. At the start of each school year, they receive the relevant timeline and add new time periods studied throughout the year. The timeline has specific markers and a set of people/events in images that link to the topics being studied.

There are two versions for each year group:

• Child’s version – where children can work out where to place people and events.
• Completed version – where the people/events are already in place and for use by teachers to model, or for children to refer to.

Children can add additional reference points as they feel necessary.

KS2 year group timelines

The set of timelines designed for KS2 gives children in each year group the chance to revisit prior learning about chronology from their previous years at primary school. At the start of each school year, they receive the relevant timeline and add new time periods studied throughout the year. This allows them to understand the chronology of the time periods studied, the links between them and previous periods, the dates involved, and how things changed differently in different places.

There are three versions for each year group (apart from year 6) to ensure that chronological understanding develops no matter the confidence level of the children you are teaching:

• Original – where children can work out where to place time periods themselves.
• Guidelines – where children have guidelines that help them place and date time periods.
• Guidelines with dates – where children need to identify the correct dates.

Children can add additional reference points as they feel necessary, including key events or people relating to the units of study. We suggest teachers print them on A3-sized paper so the children can fully explore and add to them effectively.

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