Curriculum Intent

INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION & IMPACT

INTENT

Through our teaching of History, we aim to:

• Develop the children’s historical knowledge and understanding through enquiry-based learning.
• Fuel pupils' curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world.
• Encourage thinking about how the past influences the present. 
• Help students develop a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people, using appropriate historical terms.      
• Foster a sense of identity and an increased understanding of pupils' own position in their own community and the world.
• Develop a range of skills and abilities - particularly those related to finding out about the past, explaining what happened and what people then and now think about what happened.
• Understand that our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.
• Develop skills in thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information.

IMPLEMENTATION

Curriculum

Details on specific topics each year group will study can be found in the progression map for History. Within Early Years, the curriculum is broken down into 3 main strands, which align with the Early Learning Goals:

• Past and Present
• People, Culture and Communities
• The Natural World
• Building Relationships

Throughout Key Stage One and Two, the curriculum is further broken down into the following strands: 

• Chronological understanding
• Knowledge and understanding
• Historical interpretations
• Historical enquiry
• Organisation and communication

When Planning History, we:

• Will have clear learning intentions and always explain what we want pupils to know, understand, and be able to do through the History they are about to undertake.
• Plan collaboratively within the Year Group using a mind map format to decide learning intentions and success criteria, then turn these into medium term plans which detail differentiation, key vocabulary, resources and the lesson sequence.
• Will often use key questions to direct pupils' thinking / enquiry, including higher order questioning.
• Will use a variety of resources and activities to ensure each pupil can learn effectively.
• Use a range of specialist and appropriate historical language to support learning.
• Will use introduction to lessons, mini plenaries and full plenaries to ensure students fully understand what they are learning, how they learn, how well they are progressing and where their learning will next lead to.

Teaching and Learning

• Teaching and Learning in History will take place through the use of a variety of different pedagogical approaches, resources, experiences and take into account all learning styles.
• Areas and aspects of History are set out within the progression map for each year group and are based on a broadening of chronological understanding, starting from nursery and the children’s own life chronology, building to pre-history in Key Stage 2.
• The work in History is a mixture of class teaching, working cooperatively in groups and independent learning.
• Groups are usually of mixed ability and children are encouraged to communicate their findings in a variety of ways.

In History, the children will:

• Use a range of sources such as people, the local and wider environment, venues/sites, photographs, portraits, artefacts, maps, written materials, computing based materials, data, TV / video extracts
•    Present their knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways such as through drama, art, models, various writing styles / genre, collage, timelines, sketches and maps
•    Investigate significant issues about the past by posing and investigating their own questions about the past
• Take part in school visits, which are a meaningful and integral part of the curriculum
• Realise that historical work is recognised in general displays in classrooms and in the communal areas around the school

IMPACT

As with all our subject teaching, we do not teach History in isolation to other curriculum areas; where possible, we relate the work undertaken to real life situations and we also aim to:

• Improve pupils' skills in English, Maths, Science, Geography and Computing
• Develop pupils' thinking skills
• Promote pupils' awareness and understanding of gender, cultural, spiritual and moral issues
• Develop pupils as active and responsible citizens within their own and wider communities