History Curriculum
When our teachers don their 'deer stalker' hats, then our pupils know that it is time to take get out their history books.
Through our structured and sequential History curriculum our pupils build on their knowledge of the past one step at a time, starting with their own past, moving onto the lives of their parents and grandparents and then before they know it, the lives of the Anglo Saxons and Ancient Egyptians.
Our History curriculum allows children to investigate the past by building up a chronology of events as they move through the school. A wide range of historical periods are studied, alongside significant events and significant individuals who have made an impact on different societies.
We look at local history and history around the word. Wherever possible we bring these lessons to life via our Enrichment Curriculum. Our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils board the train with their gas masks as they make their way to Stockport Air Raid shelters, whilst our Year 3 and Year 4 pupils have the chance to march the streets of Chester with a Roman Soldier! We aim to give our pupils experiences which they will remember for the rest of their lives.
Intent
History is all around us; in our families with their unique backgrounds, cultures and traditions and in our local and wider communities. The study of history ignites children’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. Through finding out about how and why the world, our country, culture and local community have developed over time, children understand how the past influences the present. History enables children to develop a context for their growing sense of identity and a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people. What they learn through history can influence their decisions about personal choices, attitudes and values. Our intent, when teaching history, is to stimulate the children’s curiosity in order for them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding.
Implementation
We teach the National Curriculum, supported by clear skills and knowledge progression. This ensures that skills and knowledge are built on year on year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. It is important that the children develop progressive skills of an historian and do not just learn a series of facts about the past. In history, pupils weigh things up and reach for their own conclusion. To do this successfully, as historians, they need to be able to research, interpret evidence, including primary and secondary sources, and have the necessary skills to put across their point of view; skill which will help them in their adult life. We provide a variety of curriculum enrichment experiences through educational visits, trips and workshops linked to the topics covered, for each year group. This enables our children to experience a rich variety of 'hands-on' learning, access to heritage sites and expert historians.
Impact
By the time our pupils leave our school, they should have developed:
- A secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods covered.
- The ability to think critically about history and communicate confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
- The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detail, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
- The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, forming and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
- A passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways.
- A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgements.
- A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of topics.