For Geography, History, Science, Art and Design Technology, we structure our learning based on ‘The Essentials Curriculum’ (Chris Quigley Education) which is made up of three key elements: 

1. Threshold Concepts 
2. Breadth of Contexts 
3. Milestones for Progress.

1. Threshold Concepts 

These are the ‘big ideas’ that shape children’s thinking within each subject. The same threshold concepts are explored in every year group and children gradually increase their understanding of them. These concepts are meant to be explored, rather than objectives that need to be met. 

An important principle is that exploring concepts will never be complete; children will continue to explore them for as long as they continue to study the subject. The concept must be explored within a breadth of different contexts so that it has tangibility and meaning.

2. Breadth of Contexts

Breadth provides the contexts for exploring the threshold concepts. It has two roles:
 

1. Knowledge
   Concepts need knowledge to make sense, so context gives children subject specific knowledge with which to think about the Threshold Concepts. For example when exploring the History concept ‘Evidence tells us about the past’ children use the context of the Great Fire of London and a historical account (Samuel Pepys’ diary), which provides them with the knowledge of the cause and destruction of the fire.
    
2. Transference
   By providing a breadth of contexts within the classroom, children begin to transfer the concepts. They do this by comparing the new context knowledge to previously learned knowledge. For example, when exploring the concept ‘Evidence tells us about the past’ in Year 2 they learn that a vital piece of evidence is Samuel Pepys kept a diary and in Year 5  they learn how Ancient Greek pottery gives us evidence of the Olympic Games

3. Milestones for Progress

As the threshold concepts are repeated every year, it is important that children progress in their understanding of them. This is set out in the form of three ‘Milestones’. Each milestone contains a range of descriptors which give more detail to be discovered within the concept. 

Over a two year period children become more and more familiar with these details by exploring them in a breadth of contexts. For example, the History threshold concept ‘Investigate and interpret the past’, is revisited in every year group at a progressively deeper level through different milestones. 

Milestone 1 (Years 1 & 2): Identify some of the different ways the past has been represented

Milestone 2 (Years 3 & 4): Describe different accounts of an historical event, explaining some of the reasons why the accounts may differ

Milestone 3 (Years 5 & 6): Understand that no single source of evidence gives the full answer to questions about the past

For the milestone statement, ‘Identify some of the different ways the past has been represented’ Year 1 children investigate why kings and queens are portrayed favourably by artists, while children in Year 2 investigate the evidence to back-up whether Guy Fawkes was a villain or not. The statement also deepens in its level of complexity in each milestone.