Intent

The aim of history teaching at our school is to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding about the life of people who lived in the past. Our History curriculum will engage and inspire curiosity, while encouraging children to think critically and ask questions. Through our History curriculum, we also aim to teach children the importance of enquiry, research and analysis; and teach an understanding of the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups.

Implementation

We teach children a sense of chronology, and through this they develop a sense of identity, and a cultural understanding based on their historical heritage. Thus, they 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.

In our school, history makes a significant contribution to social, moral, spiritual and cultural education by teaching how Britain developed as a democratic society. We teach children to understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today; we also teach them to investigate these past events and, by so doing, to develop the skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem-solving.

History teaching focuses on enabling children to think as historians. We place an emphasis on examining historical artefacts and primary sources, allowing them to learn through discovery. In each phase at our school, we give children the opportunity to visit sites of historical significance which are carefully mapped into the curriculum. Also, we encourage visitors to come into the school and talk about their experiences of events in the past.

We also focus on helping children understand that historical events can be interpreted in different ways, and that they should always ask searching questions e.g. ‘how do we know?’, about information they are given.

Skills are built on and developed as mapped out in our History Skills Map.

Assessment

Teacher assessments will take place after each completed unit to assess and review pupil’s progress and attainment against the key skills the unit covers.

Downloads

History Whole School Curriculum Map

History Skills Overview

Our curriculum maps are designed with both coverage and progression built in. This makes our curriculum dynamic, ever-changing and responsive to the children’s needs and learning styles.