/web/historylogo_20240127203803377.jpg?width=320&height=240&scale=LIMIT_MAXSIZE "History logo")
/web/curriculumlogo_20240123214839555_20240127203549449.jpg?width=320&height=240&scale=LIMIT_MAXSIZE "curriculumlogo_20240123214839555")
/web/historylogo_20240127203809204.jpg?width=320&height=240&scale=LIMIT_MAXSIZE "History logo")
History
Subject Leader: Mr Thomas Flynn
Link Governor: Mr Mark Bishop
Intent
At St. Mary’s we aim to provide a history curriculum which ignites children’s curiosity about the past. Children will learn about people and events at a local, national and international level. They will develop a coherent understanding of chronology, causes and consequences enabling children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weight evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement.
Lessons are planned in small steps, built around a question and stem sentence, enabling knowledge and skills to be built upon coherently. Subject specific and relevant vocabulary for each lesson is shared and explained. Where possible, we will bring our curriculum to life through the use of artefacts, primary sources, educational visits and visitors.
Through the teaching of History, and as a Christian community, we endeavour to enable children 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.
Learning materials and assessment for SEND children are personalised to their individual needs.
Implementation
History is taught in every year group.
- Topics are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth.
- We have developed a progression of skills with each year group, which enables pupils to build on and develop their skills each year.
- In KS1, History begins by looking at the children’s own personal history and introduces them to the idea of chronology and timelines.
- In KS1, History will look at significant events and people who have shaped society, locally, nationally and globally.
- In KS2, each year group studies aspects of local history, a British history topic and an ancient history topic.
- In KS2, UK history is taught chronologically to allow children to confidently place each time period. This allows pupils to consistently build on previous knowledge and learning by placing previously taught History topics on a timeline.
- In order to support children in their ability to know more and remember more, there are regular opportunities to review the learning that has taken place in previous topics as well as previous lessons.
- At the start of each topic children will review previous learning and will have the opportunity to share what they already know about a current topic.
- Children are given a knowledge organiser at the start of each topic which details some key information, dates and vocabulary. This is not used as part of an assessment, but to support children with their acquisition of knowledge and is used as a reference document.
- Effective CPD and standardisation opportunities are available to staff to ensure high levels of confidence and knowledge are maintained.
- To support teaching, staff access a range of resources and planning including from the History Association.
- Medium term planning for all units will cover key historical concepts: Chronological understanding, Historical knowledge, Historical interpretation, Historical enquiry and organisation and communication.
- Children are given opportunities, where possible, to study artefacts leading to enquiry, investigation, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and presentation.
- We plan for effective use of educational visits and visitors, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experience and the History curriculum.
- Teachers use highly effective Assessment for Learning at different points in each lesson to ensure misconceptions are highlighted and addressed.
- Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intentions, with misconceptions addressed within it.
- Through using a range of assessment tools, differentiation is facilitated by teachers, to ensure that every pupil can access the History curriculum.
- Children are given clear success criteria in order to achieve the Learning Intention with different elements of independence.
- Pupils are regularly given the opportunity for Self or Peer Assessment, which will then be used to inform planning, preparation, differentiation and address misconceptions within that lesson, or for the next lesson.
- Cross-curricular links are planned for, with other subjects such as Maths, Writing and Computing.
- Educational, immersive displays that answer key questions help to create a rich learning environment for each History focus.
- Our Target Tracker Assessment Tool allows us to use data to inform future planning.
Useful Documents
The following files will give you an overview of the DT curriculum at St Mary's and our expectations of pupils in this subject area:
Useful Links
Impact
We want our pupils to love History and be historians! We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and to grow up wanting to be archivists, museum curators, archaeologists or research analysts.
We are ambitious for our children and the impact of our curriculum design will lead to outstanding progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills.
Children will therefore be expected to leave St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School reaching at least age-expected expectations and to be enthusiastic history learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice and other than their work.
