At Cornerstones, we’ve always believed that children deserve a rich, well-sequenced curriculum that sparks curiosity, builds knowledge, and develops key skills. That’s why we’ve been working on a range of brand-new history projects that not only deliver on creativity and rigour—but also support the direction of travel outlined in the DfE’s 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review Interim Report.
These history projects are perfect for refreshing your curriculum. They’re shorter, easy to fit into a half term, and packed with opportunities to embed core knowledge, develop historical thinking, and enrich children’s learning.
The future of the primary curriculum
The Curriculum Review Interim Report reminds us that a high-quality curriculum should:
- Enable all pupils to build secure knowledge over time
- Include carefully chosen content that supports progression and coherence
- Balance creativity and discipline-specific knowledge
We’ve used these guiding principles to shape our new history projects, making sure that each one is rooted in well-sequenced historical knowledge, thought-provoking enquiry, and practical creativity that brings the past to life.
New topics include:
The Great Fire of London Y1
A reimagined classic. Short, engaging, and bursting with storytelling potential. Children explore the causes and effects of the Great Fire and consider how London changed as a result.
A Titanic Tragedy Y2
A powerful and emotive project that helps children explore one of the most iconic events of the 20th century. They’ll investigate the causes, consequences and human stories of the Titanic disaster, using real accounts and historical evidence to build understanding.
Flight through Time Y2
A beautifully visual and exciting topic that spans the timeline of aviation. Children explore key inventions and individuals, from the Wright brothers to Frank Whittle’s jet engine, building their own understanding of how aviation innovation has changed the world.
Age of the Aztecs Y2
This bold new project explores the rise and fall of the Aztec civilisation, their achievements, beliefs, and eventual encounter with the Spanish conquistadors. Children analyse sources, question interpretations, and begin understanding the wonderful culture and innovation of this amazing non-European societies.
Designed with flexibility and ease of use in mind
Each of these new projects is designed to
- be taught in just half a term
- balance knowledge and skills, as recommended by the Interim Report
- offer rich, creative opportunities, without sacrificing historical rigour
- develop problem-solving and critical thinking
- provide optional enrichment activities that support deeper engagement.
They’re perfect for
- filling gaps in your long-term plan
- adding cultural and thematic breadth to your curriculum
- replacing tired or outdated projects with fresh, enquiry led projects.
Final thoughts
The DfE’s Interim Report rightly reminds us that curriculum is about more than coverage, it’s about ensuring children encounter rich, meaningful knowledge and build disciplinary understanding over time.
These four new projects are our response to that call. And while this is just the first four, there will be more to come over the forthcoming year. They offer you the flexibility to tailor your curriculum and add new content, while staying true to the principles of coherence, progression, and creativity.
You’ll find all four projects on Maestro and Quick Teach, complete with planning, resources, knowledge organisers, and other supporting materials. You’ll find all four projects on Maestro and through the search function Quick Teach, complete with planning, resources, knowledge organisers, and other supporting materials.
You’ll find all four projects on Maestro and the lessons through the search functionality of Quick Teach. Complete planning, resources, knowledge organisers, and other supporting materials. You’ll find all four projects on Maestro, complete with planning, resources, knowledge organisers and other supporting materials. Not a Maestro user? You can access individual lessons on these four topics with a 5-day free trial to Quick Teach. Register below.
