What does History look like at Abbey? 

Love, Laugh, Learn – Walking with Jesus to life in all its fullness – John 10:10

HISTORY CURRICULUM

INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT

Intent:                                                                                                                                                                                        Our school vision is to Love, Laugh, Learn – Walking with Jesus to life in all its fullness – John 10:10, therefore, in history we aim to provide a rich and engaging curriculum that is inclusive and challenging for all pupils. We promote respect and appreciation of our local history through lesson study, research, trips and visitors. We offer quality teaching that equips pupils to work and think like historians by asking perceptive questions, weigh evidence, and develop perspective and judgement.  Our curriculum allows for cumulative progression of knowledge and skills from early years to KS1 and intends to make explicit reference to prior learning so that a full understanding of historical context is achieved.  In the early years, we seek to help children develop a sense of time, building the language and vocabulary to understand and make sense of their own history. This understanding is built upon in KS1 so that children start to appreciate the different experiences of people beyond living memory and how this has changed over time. In KS1 children learn to recognise the contribution of historical events, and famous people of different race and gender to local, national and world history. We have specifically planned our history curriculum to both statutory and non-statutory National Curriculum learning objectives. For example, our Year 2, children explore the changes in life since the 1950s through their ‘World Since 1950s’ topic as well as learning about the Great Fire of London.  

Implementation                                                                                                                                                                 Teachers use Oak Academy Schemes of Work and the National Curriculum as a basis for planning. Thereafter, teachers use the History long and medium term plans created by the subject leader to further support. Within this, much of our teaching and learning for history is taught discretely but linked to other subjects. This also allows us to consider our local context when planning our history curriculum – ‘Changes since birth and The Victorians – Year 1’ and ‘World since 1950s’ – Year 2, are just two examples. Lesson plans are supported by Knowledge and Fact Sheets for each history topic as well as a Topic Overview which identifies coverage, skills and knowledge in history and links to other subjects such as Reading Enrichment, Geography, Art and DT. History and Geography links include, Year 1 Scott of the Antarctic and Y2 Great Fire of London units (map work) to reinforce knowledge and skills.

Planning is annotated with additional teaching and feedback strategies and amendments are made to planning and resources based on teacher judgement, particularly to support and challenge SEND pupils and stretch the more able. School learning is supplemented by home learning, research and educational visits where appropriate. Teachers make reference to prior learning both within and between units. Explicit links are also made between historical events, famous people in history and through chronological timelines in KS1.

Impact                                                                                                                                                                                    Children demonstrate an interest in and fascination with the past. They first build their understanding of time and the language to explore and discuss historical concepts. They ask questions and seek answers through enquiry, research and investigation, thinking about their own past, in the first instance, giving them the building blocks to recognise changes over time. As children become more accomplished historians through KS1 they are able to make reference to past events and figures and endeavour to understand these in a wider historical context by making links with the past and present. They study historical themes in depth and can make comparisons between their own lives and the lives of people at different points in history. For example making comparisons between their own experiences of school and that of a Victorian child. History outcomes in History books  provide evidence of  a broad and balanced history curriculum. They demonstrate the children’s gaining of key historical knowledge. Children reflect on the previous lesson’s work with opportunities to edit and correct. Children also reflect on what they have learned compared with their starting points at the end of topics.

The high quality of the children’s work is represented through the different forms in which historical evidence is presented, including timelines, photographic evidence, charts and diaries. Where applicable, visits and a rich range of practical activities are used to support children’s, knowledge, understanding and engagement.