History

Our History curriculum is mapped out across the school allowing children to gain knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods through continually revisiting prior learning and building upon this. Children are taught to have the ability to think critically about history and think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past. Children are encouraged to challenge their own and others’ views using a range of detailed, accurate and appropriate sources. They should develop a passion for learning about history which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and how this has changed the lives of people today and what we can learn from this. We incorporate our local area or relevant national events such as our school’s 200th anniversary or the Queen’s Jubilee.

How we teach History

We have a two-year rolling programme and links are made with other subjects to engage and challenge children. Themes are studied by Years 1 & 2, 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. The same threshold concepts are explored in every year group and pupils will gradually increase their understanding of them. “These concepts are studied within a breadth of different contexts so that it has meaning for the children. For example, pupils will use the context of the Great Fire of London to explore the concept ‘evidence tells us about the past’. They could be shown extracts of Samuel Pepys diary and explore how an historical account gives us the knowledge of the cause and spread of the fire. The more knowledge pupils have, the better their understanding of the concepts becomes. (Chris Quigley, The Essentials Curriculum, p.1)

Children are given knowledge organisers at the beginning of a topic to support with their learning. These can be found on the class pages.