History

History Curriculum Vision

The study of History at our school supports our pupils to build a temporal awareness and a developing sense of identity as they come to understand their place in the story of human development. As a school we recognise that engaging children and young people in investigating questions about people and events in the past helps them to better understand their lives today, the contested nature of knowledge and prepares them for the future as more informed citizens, in line with our vision. Engaging our pupils with a relevant, exciting and challenging History curriculum which inspires curiosity and is appropriate for preparing them for an adult life in the 21^st century is essential since it:

• Helps them to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as some of the challenges of their time;
• Develops skills of critical thinking which means making reasoned judgements that are logical and well thought out and not merely accepting arguments and conclusions as they are presented but  having a healthy, discerning and questioning attitude about new information;
• Supports them to appreciate that all knowledge is socially constructed and its objectivity and reliability is therefore open to critiquing through asking perceptive questions, weighing evidence, sifting arguments and developing perspective and judgement;
• Helps to build a sense of identity and belonging on a personal, cultural, national and global level as pupils come to appreciate the diversity of human experience and consequently understand more about themselves and as members of society;
• Enables pupils to understand core concepts such as cause and consequence, similarity and difference, continuity and change, change and progress/regression, significance, evidence, chronology, empathy, context, diversity, perspective, interconnectivity and validity which have broad relevance and significance in the modern world.
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As a Historian our Children will:

Interpret History through Sources/Artefacts: Children will explore a variety of primary & secondary sources and be able to construct informed responses by thoughtfully selecting and organising relevant historical information. 

Understand Chronology: Children will understand where events fit in to a chronological timeline, including where they overlap. Every class will have a working timeline with prior learning added at the start of the year. New events will be added throughout the year when taught with expanded timelines to show the added detail.

Identify Similarity, difference and significance: Children will leave primary school knowing key significant individuals and events from Britain and the wider world’s past. They will know about the achievements of at least one early civilisation and understand its significance in history. They will compare and contrast aspects of life across different periods and across different cultures.

Continuity and Change: Children will understand how some things stay the same over time and how other things change. Through studies of different settlements, they will recognise how they have changed over time, identifying what has stayed the same and what is different. They will be able to compare how settlements developed in different ways and identify the significance of this on our world today.

Cause and Consequence: Children will know key British, European and World conflicts and how this has had an impact on Britain and the wider world. They will understand that the causes and consequences of conflicts may be different but their impact is all around us and has affected us all on different scales, many which are relevant to them and their families.