History

Intent:

It is our aim to help develop and nourish children to become great historians. Wadworth Primary School follows Curriculum Maestro, which is designed to ensure children leave primary school with an understanding of the past which paves the way for their future. We take our children on a journey through time to give them broad chronological and coherent knowledge of history; where all time periods fit in and how they relate to each other. Through our History lessons, pupils develop their ability to ask perceptive questions, think critically, analyse evidence, examine arguments, develop judgement and understand differing perspectives. Throughout their journey through history, pupils will gain a wide breadth of knowledge of people, places and significant events through time, preparing them for the next step in their historical learning.

Our core values provide a platform on which we have built our curriculum offer at Wadworth Primary School. Our History curriculum is underpinned by our core values in the following ways:

• Persevering
  • To develop the ability to stick with something, to continue working, to try harder and to not give up.
  • To understand that the perseverance and attentiveness needed to learn key facts about History.
• Problem solving
  • To do their best work and then to push themselves beyond what they consider to be their best.
• Independence
  • To develop confident historians who can think for themselves.
• Being attentive (listening)
  • Acquire skills through listening to others.
  • Have a knowledge of key people from the past and how this has shaped the future.
• Communicating
  • Being able to talk about their learning and share their opinions about historical information.
  • To have the courage to ask and answer questions related to History.
• Collaborating
  • To respect the views of others.
  • To support others with a skill you are confident in already.

Beyond the Subject:

We would like our History curriculum to help children to:

• Increase and develop their historical skills, concepts, knowledge and attitudes.
• Increase their understanding of the present in the context of the past.
• Develop and use their skills in enquiry, analysis, evaluation and argument.
• Develop their interest in the past, arousing their curiosity and motivation to learn.
• Develop a sense of identity through learning about the past.

Implementation:

Our History curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills set out in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum states that ‘pupils should gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.’ Our History curriculum has been structured in a cross-curricular way to effectively facilitate this. History learning will form the drivers for a class topic or may be used to enhance a further driver subject, to provide more knowledge and understanding of that area.

The children develop their History skills progressively in the following ‘Big Ideas’ areas:

• Humankind – Everyday life, Hierarchy and Power and Civilisations
• Creativity – Report and Conclude, Communication
• Materials – Artefacts and Sources
• Place and Space – Local History
• Comparison – Compare and Contrast
• Significance – Significant events and Significant People
• Change – Changes over time, British History and Chronology

Impact:

Our children will be confident and knowledgeable historians! They will be able to discuss their learning using the ambitious vocabulary they have learnt in their History lessons and have a good understanding of their studied places, people and significant events; as well as how these all link together.

Due to the nature of this curriculum area, History monitoring takes various forms. A key component of this is pupil voice. School leaders use pupil voice as an effective tool to ascertain the pupils’ ability to express themselves, through questioning and discussion. Topic book monitoring throughout all year groups also takes place once a term to compliment this, allowing leaders to ensure our historians have the opportunity to develop their knowledge fully and showcase their understanding.