History

Our aim is to develop children’s sense of identity through learning about the development of Britain, Europe and the world and to introduce children to what is involved in understanding and interpreting the past.

History begins in the Early Years Foundation Stage and into Reception by focusing on personal history and the children’s own experience.

In Key Stage 1, History is about the lives and lifestyles of people in the recent past and about famous people in the more distant past.

In Key Stage 2, history is about people and important events and developments from recent and more distant times in the locality, in Britain and in other parts of the world. Children carry out historical enquiry using a variety of sources and look at how the past is interpreted in different ways.

History Curriculum Intent

Our intent is to:

Strive to be an ‘Evidence Informed’ school, taking into account the important role different forms of evidence can play in improving our school History curriculum through informing decision making and implementation practices that continually work to improve the outcomes of teaching and learning.

In order to achieve this goal, we will:

Engage with a wide range of research, related to both History and wider teaching and learning
Explore areas of school practice that can be improved and clearly define them for all school stakeholders
Prepare clear school development plans that outline how implementation activities and resources will be deployed to meet the intended outcomes
Deliver and Adapt implementation strategies, monitoring their effectiveness through developed school systems and a flexible and collaborative peer-to-peer approach to school improvement
Sustain and scale successful implementation practices to ensure they are embedded.
Develop children’s awareness of their ability to self-regulate and think about their learning by sustaining and promoting the school’s metacognition agenda, in order to develop metacognitive strategies in conjunction with building a progressive understanding of historical concepts.

In History at Fens we aim to inspire children’s curiosity, encourage critical thinking and enable them to have a better understanding of the society in which they live and that of the wider world. Our curriculum helps them to gain a sense of their own identity within a social, political, cultural and economic background as well as a growing understanding of diversity. Our topics help children gain an understanding of the complexity of people’s lives and the process of change.

How we implement our History Curriculum

We feel it is important for History to be taught discretely as well as incorporated within other curriculum subjects, such as literacy, the creative curriculum and through collective worship. Each topic has been given a title in the form of a key question to promote critical thinking. Metacognition is used to form critical thinking tasks that can be used at the end of a topic to inform assessment.

In History we aim:

To promote an interest in the past.
To develop an understanding of change over time.
To develop a sense of chronology.
To understand and use a variety of historical terms.
To understand a variety of historical concepts.
To learn about the roles that individuals and events have played in shaping modern society.
To develop an ability to investigate and interpret different versions of past events.
To learn to study historical evidence and to ask and answer questions about the past.
To develop the ability to communicate historical knowledge and understanding using a variety of techniques.
To encourage children to understand other people, their beliefs, thoughts, values and experiences.
To realise the diversity of the past.
To develop an awareness of the world around them.
To develop an understanding of society and their place within it, so that they acquire a sense of their cultural heritage.
To develop a knowledge and understanding of historical development in the wider world.

How we measure the impact of our History Curriculum

Our History curriculum engages the children’s curiosity in learning about events and the lives of people who lived in the past. We believe that the study of historical persons, places, periods and change over time, not only helps children develop a sense of their own identity, but also allows them to explore their own and other people’s cultures with respect. In considering the actions of historical persons and people, the pupils of Fens Primary School are better equipped to develop their own moral code which impacts on their own life decisions.

Quality teaching stimulates the children’s interest and understanding of how past events have influenced our lives today and inspires them to find out more. Children are taught to investigate and raise perceptive questions about events, developing the essential skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem solving.

Assessment

Children’s progress should be assessed through observation and completion of differentiated tasks based on key skills. Assessment outcome sheets should accompany planning documents and be used as a basis for ‘next steps’ and further learning opportunities. End of unit assessment sheets are completed at the end of a topic.

Marking

The marking of work in History should be in line with the whole school marking policy and feedback should refer to the historical objective. Comments regarding to other areas of the curriculum should not be used to form an assessment on the child’s historical skills. Pupils are encouraged to improve their own learning performance through the school marking policy.

History Curriculum Map - KS2

History Curriculum Map - KS1