History

Intent

At St Mary’s, our History curriculum aims to engage and excite children’s curiosity, and supports the development of key historical knowledge, skills and concepts through the study of British and local history and other significant time periods and societies.  Our History curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum.  In understanding periods, events and people from the past, our pupils will gain a greater appreciation of today’s world and their place within it.  To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way.

Implementation

The teaching, learning and sequencing of the History curriculum is as follows:

A thematic curriculum approach has been implemented to ensure coverage of knowledge and progression in skills and concepts.

In EYFS and KS1, children will focus on the world around them and their living memory of History before moving to events that go beyond living history. This will ensure a firm foundation for KS2 History.

In KS2, the History curriculum is structured in a way that allows for pupils to develop a sense chronology, and to make links between current and previous learning. This allows pupils to build an image of History over time and to use their knowledge of previous periods, events and people to better understand current learning.

The progression of knowledge and skills are set out in order to build and develop the following concepts:

• Chronological understanding
• Similarities and differences
• Cause and effect
• Significance
• Continuity and change
• Enquiry
• Interpretation

Impact

• Children are engaged, curious and resilient in History lessons and relish the challenge and opportunities for fun that the subject offers.
• Children are critical and analytical in their thinking, making informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past.
• Children are aware of how historical events have shaped the world today, including History at the local and personal level.
• Children develop enquiry skills to pursue and investigate their own interests within a topic.
• Children retain learning and explicitly make connections between what they have previously learned and what they are currently learning.
• Children are able to articulate what they have learned in History and can describe significant periods, events and people from the past.
• Children remember more, know more and can do more.