History Lead: Sherril Atkins

What is History?

History is the study of people, actions, decisions, interactions and behaviours. It’s about finding out about life in different times and places in the past, but also how and why societies changed.  Historians seek to understand the past by determining and ordering ‘facts’; and from the narratives of the past, they hope to explain the decisions and processes which shape our existence today. 

Our Curriculum Intent

Our history curriculum has been designed to increase and extend children’s knowledge of the past, creating a framework of knowledge into which they can place new information. Engaging pupils in investigating questions about people and events enables them to gain a better understand of their lives today and affords them a future as more informed and enlightened citizens. Through the study of history pupils also develop a wide range of critical thinking skills, which enable them to understand the contested nature of knowledge and to distinguish between ‘fact’ and subjectivity when it comes to reaching conclusions and making judgements about information and sources.  Concepts provide the lenses through which we examine the people, places and events that make up our shared history. The principles outlined by our curriculum drivers have played a key part in planning how we teach and what we teach our children in history. 

Our Curriculum Implementation

We use ‘Connected History’ and ‘Keystage History’ as the starting points for our curriculum. There is a clear purpose and context to every enquiry and children acquire important subject knowledge and apply a growing repertoire of historical and enquiry skills, which are described in the progression tables below.

At Key Stage 1 most  questions the children will undertake are more tightly defined or closed ‘Who’, ‘What’, ‘Where’ and ‘When’ questions, but at Key Stage 2 a more open-ended approach is introduced,  with an emphasis on ‘Why’ and ‘How’ questions. Each enquiry has a key question underpinned by several ancillary or sub-questions for the pupils to complete in turn as they progress through the investigation.

• We have a two-year rolling programme in Key Stage 1, and a three year rolling programme in Key Stage 2.

• Learning is delivered through an enquiry-based approach. Each enquiry has a key question underpinned by several ancillary or sub-questions for the pupils to complete in turn as they progress through the investigation. By the time the pupils have completed all stages of the investigation they will be in a position to answer the key question.

• We organise our knowledge into key concepts: these are strands of substantive knowledge, which build over time. Alongside substantive knowledge, we teach disciplinary concepts (how historical knowledge is built and contested over time) and enquiry based skills, which are transferable to other subjects: recognising; identifying; describing; observing; selecting; categorising; classifying; sequencing; comparing and contrasting; recalling; reasoning and speculating; summarising; synthesising; explaining; empathising; reaching informed conclusions; making reasoned judgements; justifying; applying; evaluating; critiquing; and hypothesising.

• Each enquiry lists the key subject specific vocabulary to be learned, although these lists are not exhaustive. Time is devoted to the development of vocabulary  as well as ensuring that vocabulary already mastered is used.

• Links are made with prior learning, and when appropriate, with other subjects.

 Our Curriculum Impact

“By the end of Year 6, it is important that pupils not only build up good chronological knowledge, they also need to be able to make comparisons across time between the various topics they have covered so that they can make comparisons and see connections. But this is only part of their historical education. Arguably, even more important is the need for pupils to really understand how the past can be known.”

(Keystage History)

The evaluation of learning takes place in a number of ways:

• Assessment  takes place throughout each lesson, using formative strategies such as asking challenging, in-depth questions; feedback through marking and discussion; opportunities for children to respond  to this and improve their work;  and self-assessment and peer assessment.
• Children in Key Stage 2 produce their own knowledge organisers, demonstrating not only the facts they have learnt, but their ability to make links and apply the skills that have been taught.
• Teachers frequently check children’s learning, for example through knowledge and word quizzes.
• Key learning and understanding for each unit is identified, and forms the basis of summative assessment at the end of each term. These judgements are recorded on Insight.

Curriculum Drivers:

More in-depth documentation is available on request for our history curriculum.