History – Strategic leader Claire Penrose, Middle leader Sarah Linford

Intent

The intent of our History curriculum is to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more.

As a result of this they will:

• Increase and develop their historical skills, concepts, knowledge, and attitudes.
• Increase their understanding of the present in the context of the past.
• Develop and use their skills in enquiry, analysis, evaluation, and argument.
• Develop their interest in the past, arousing their curiosity and motivation to learn.
• Develop a sense of identity through learning about the past.

Why do we teach History? Why do we teach it in the way we do?

History intends to prepare each pupil with the next step in education whilst at the same time giving all pupils a broad and balanced view of the history of Britain and societies and a particular period of time in history or a person’s life. Pupils will develop knowledge of the past and its events, with the intention to improve every pupil’s cultural capital, understanding of the world around them, and their own heritage.

At Calverton we have designed our curriculum with the intent that children will:

• Become increasingly critical and analytical thinkers.
• Have a clear understanding of the chronology of the British Isles and other areas of the world.
• To discover links and connections to the History they learn and the wider community and locality.
• Further their knowledge and explanations of change and continuity over time in the history of the British Isles and other areas of the world.
• Differentiate between source types and explain how interpretations of History may differ.
• Draw on similarities and differences within periods of history and across previously taught History.
• Enquire into historical themed questions and form their own opinions and interpretation of the past.

Implementation

Provision in EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports children’s understanding of History through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World’. This aspect is about how children find out about past and present events in their own lives, their families, and other people they know. Children are encouraged to develop a sense of change over time and are given opportunities to differentiate between past and present by observing routines throughout the day, growing plants, observing the passing of seasons and time and looking at photographs of their life and of others. Practitioners encourage investigative behaviour and raise questions such as, ‘What do you think?’, ‘Tell me more about?’, ‘What will happen if..?’, ‘What else could we try?’, ‘What could it be used for?’ and ‘How might it work?’ Use of language relating to time is used in daily routines and conversations with children for example, ‘yesterday’, ‘old’, ‘past’, ‘now’, and ‘then’.

At Calverton History is taught in every year group, once a week.

• Topics are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth.
• We have developed a progression of skills with each year group, which enables pupils to build on and develop their skills each year.
• In KS1, History begins by looking at the children’s own personal history and introduces them to the idea of chronology and timelines.
• In KS1, History will look at significant events and people who have shaped society, locally, nationally and globally.
• In KS2, each year group studies aspects of local history, a British history topic and an ancient history topic.
• In KS2, UK history is taught chronologically to allow children to confidently place each time period. This allows pupils to consistently build on previous knowledge and learning by placing previously taught History topics on a timeline.
• In order to support children in their ability to know more and remember more, there are regular opportunities to review the learning that has taken place in previous topics as well as previous lessons
• Medium term planning for all units will cover key historical concepts: Chronological understanding, Historical knowledge, Historical interpretation, Historical enquiry and organisation and communication.
• Children are given opportunities, where possible, to study artefacts leading to enquiry, investigation, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and presentation.
• We plan for effective use of educational visits and visitors, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experience and the History curriculum.
• Teachers use highly effective Assessment for Learning at different points in each lesson to ensure misconceptions are highlighted and addressed.
• Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intentions, with misconceptions addressed within it.
• Through using a range of assessment tools, differentiation is facilitated by teachers, to ensure that each pupil can access the History curriculum.
• Children are given clear success criteria in order to achieve the Learning Intention with different elements of independence.
• Pupils are regularly given the opportunity for Self or Peer Assessment, which will then be used to inform planning, preparation, differentiation and address misconceptions within that lesson, or for the next lesson.
• Educational, immersive displays that answer key questions help to create a rich learning environment for each History focus.

Books

Children will have constant access to a wide variety of subject specific fiction and non-fiction books, available in history lessons, other lessons and in the class book area.

Outdoor learning

We recognise that children learn in a variety of ways, and so where appropriate, children will learn History outside the classroom.

Cultural Capital

We plan visits, visitors and involvement in the community activity to provide first-hand experiences for the children to support and develop their learning. This is often linked to History. We recognise that to have impact, cultural capital must be clearly linked to the statutory historical knowledge to be acquired and this provides the opportunity for children to better understand or apply what they already know.

Impact

Through the high quality first teaching of History taking place we will see the impact of the subject in different ways.

Through pupil voice children will be able to talk about the skills and knowledge they have acquired. Children will be engaged in History lessons and want to find out more. Children will complete research independently through projects and homework and to further their own enjoyment about the subject or topic.

Work will show that a range of topics is being covered, cross curricular links are made where possible and differentiated work set as appropriate.

The school environment will be history rich through displays, resources, vocabulary etc.

As historians, children will learn lessons from history to influence the decisions they make in their lives in the future. Assessments and monitoring will show standards in History will be high and will match standards in other subject areas.