History

Intent

Our aim at Westvale Primary School is to encourage pupils to develop an appreciation and understanding of the past, evaluating a range of primary and secondary sources. Our historians will also be able to explain clearly how these sources give us an insight about how people around the world used to live and how these interpretations may differ. Pupils will be taught to make links between these areas of learning, with the aim of developing engaged, motivated and curious learners that can reflect on the past and make meaningful links to the present day.

Our History curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum states that ‘a high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past.’

To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way. These are all mapped out to ensure that pupils build on secure prior knowledge. The main strands include;

• Chronological Understanding;
• Knowledge & Understanding of Past Events, People and Change in the Past;
• Historical Enquiry and Interpretation.

When covering each of these strands, the content will be carefully organised by each year group through a long term plan. Content knowledge, vocabulary and skills will then be planned for at a greater level of detail in the medium term plan. History is delivered through weekly lessons and meaningful links with other subjects are made to strengthen connections and understanding for pupils.

The History units taught have been developed to help children appreciate their own identity and the challenges in their time. It will help them understand the process of change over time and significant developments. Throughout each year group there is a particular emphasis on key concepts such as Monarchs, Rulers, Invasion and Causes and Consequence. Opportunities will be planned for children working at greater depth and additional support provided to ensure inclusion for all pupils.

Implementation

In KS1, the Historical skills will focus on the world around them and their living memory of History before moving to events that go beyond living history. This will ensure a firm foundation for KS2 History.

In KS2, the History curriculum is set out in chronological order to allow children to reference the previous events in time and to refer to this prior learning year-on-year and within the year.

All learning will start by revisiting prior knowledge. Each class has a working wall displaying key questions, facts and vocabulary, these are developed as the unit progresses and each lesson will begin with recapping what was taught previously. This will support children to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long term memory. Staff will model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

Key skills are identified for each lesson and are placed alongside the learning objective in books. These are then used to help check understanding. Weekly curriculum quizzes are used to review learning and check that children know more and remember more. Learning is reviewed also on a termly basis, after a period of forgetting, so that teachers can check whether information has been retained.

History assessment is ongoing throughout the relevant cross-curricular themes to inform teachers with their planning lesson activities and differentiation. Summative assessment is completed at the end of each topic where history objectives have been covered; 

Our historians will be given a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom where appropriate to create memorable learning opportunities and to further support and develop their understanding.

Impact

Children will become increasingly critical and analytical within their thinking. Making informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past.

Children will become increasingly aware of how historical events have shaped the world that they currently live in.
They will also have a further understanding of History on a local level and on a small-scale.

Children will develop enquiry skills to pursue their own interests within a topic and further questioning.
Where applicable, children will have encountered or participated in high-quality visits/visitors to further appreciate the impact of History.

Children are to retain prior-learning and explicitly make connections between what they have previously learned and what they are currently learning.