History Subject Review Pack

New for 2026

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.

Age Range

Buy what you need when you need it

No costly subscription required

Instant digital download

£15.00

History Subject Review Pack

£15.00

CONTENTS

WHO IT'S FOR

HOW IT CAN HELP

WHAT ELSE?

REVIEWS (0)

What's in this History Subject Review pack?

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

Who should use this History Subject Review pack?

This pack can be utilised in multiple ways. Some of the roles who may find this pack useful include:

New History subject leaders who want a clear starting point and an honest picture of the subject they’ve taken on
Experienced History leads who are due a monitoring cycle or planning next year’s improvements and want evidence rather than assumptions
Primary subject leaders who lead History alongside other subjects and need a review they can fit into limited release time
Heads of History in secondary schools who want to check how the curriculum is working across key stages
Senior leaders and headteachers who want to run subject reviews themselves, or give subject leaders one shared structure to work from
Curriculum and deputy heads who need an accurate view of curriculum quality to report to governors
Trust leaders who want a consistent way to review History across several schools

Key questions answered in this pack

Key questions answered in this pack include:

How well is History working in our school, and how do we know?
Is our History curriculum well planned, sequenced and covered across the year groups?
Are pupils building secure knowledge of chronology, of substantive concepts such as empire and trade, and of second-order concepts such as cause, change and significance?
How confident are our staff teaching History, and where would CPD help most?
How do we check whether pupils are remembering key History knowledge over time?
Which pupils meet barriers in History lessons or enrichment, and what are we doing to reduce them?
What do lesson visits, pupil conversations and work in books tell us when we look at them together?
How do we RAG-rate provision fairly, without grading individual teachers?
Where does evidence from History feed into the evaluation areas of Ofsted’s school inspection toolkit?
Which documents does a History review draw on, from the national curriculum to the SEND Code of Practice?
What can we do if we only have half a day?
How do we report our findings clearly to SLT and governors?

Want to delve deeper into your school curriculum and teaching?

Our Curriculum and Teaching Audit is a great next step if you're keen to explore the provision across your setting.

Take leadership further...

Curriculum and Teaching Audit Pack

Step back from one subject and review curriculum and teaching across the whole school. The Curriculum and Teaching Audit covers eight themes, from curriculum design and teaching practice to inclusion, professional development and evaluating impact. It comes with an action plan, an evidence checklist, a question bank and a one-page summary for SLT and governors.

Explore this product Explore this product