History

Intent

Through our History curriculum, we aim for our pupils to have a secure understanding about the life of people who lived in the past, both in Britain and in the wider world.

We will teach children about chronology in order for them to develop a sense of identity and where they fit into the bigger picture of a historical timeline. We want our pupils to learn to value their own and other people’s cultures in modern multicultural Britain and, by considering how people lived in the past, they are better able to make their own life choices today.

Children will understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today; we will also teach them to investigate these past events and, by so doing, develop their skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem-solving.

Our history curriculum will be in line with the aims of the National Curriculum. In Early Years, this will be linked to 'Development Matters' and pupils understanding of the world.

Implementation

Teaching Approach:

• Learning begins with an engaging hook and links are made to prior learning to capture students' interest and reinforce the ‘sticky knowledge’ that we want all children to know and remember.
• Concepts are mapped to show progression.
• Each lesson starts with a retrieval quiz: questions from the previous year, topic, and lesson.
• Teachers adapt their delivery and planning so that all pupils can access the learning. 

Lesson Structure:

• Introduce the topic through the overarching key enquiry question
• Learning focus is shared with the class.
• Revisit of prior learning through a retrieval task as well as a revisit of the history timeline, making connections where possible. The children will complete 3 questions from last year, last topic, last lesson.
• Experiences to explore and investigate the enquiry question are shared with pupils.
• On-going formative assessment will take place in lessons and throughout the sequence.

Impact

Children will...

• know and understand the history of Britain as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.

Assessment

The assessment process for children involves several key components. At the beginning of each lesson, students engage in evidence informed retrieval practice tasks to reinforce substantive knowledge. On-going formative assessments also inform next steps and build on foundational and new knowledge. Pupils will also be assessed through on-going observations and how they work like a historian e.g. asking historically-valid questions and creating their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses of primary and secondary sources.

Pupil voice is also utilised to assess how well pupils can articulate their learning from the work completed in their books and the connections they make to prior learning.

Importance of Cultural Capital

Cultural capital is essential, especially given our rural location. Understanding the wider world is a key driver for our curriculum. We make every effort to organise trips, speakers to the school and workshops so that children experience life in all its fullness. Diversity is one of our curriculum drivers, we ensure that our pupils receive a curriculum that understands and celebrates differences.

For a detailed overview of our History Curriculum please explore the documents below.