Intent

Our aim at Darrington C of E Primary School is to ignite children’s curiosity about the past, shaped by historical events across the world. Children will be taught as historians to understand how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. They will be taught to make links and connections within and across periods of history and to understand the concepts of causation, change and significance.

Children will be taught to work as ‘historians’ to interpret a range of sources to learn about that past and to understand that there are differing interpretations of the past, enabling them to appreciate historical bias.

Subject specific vocabulary will be taught to children to help them evaluate sources and talk about their findings.

History is taught discretely within each year group following a 2 year rolling programme. Units are blocked under a topic heading in order to support children to revisit and remember prior learning. We intend to make these sessions inspiring, engaging and challenging to meet all the children’s needs.

Implementation

Our History curriculum covers the skills and knowledge outlined in the National Curriculum through broad, challenging and inspiring topics. A topic based approach is used to deliver the content within a meaningful context and wherever possible cross curricular links are exploited particularly links with geography. However, teachers make it explicit to the children that they are learning history skills and encourage them to think like ‘historians.’

At Key Stage 1: topics taught include learning about a range of famous people in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements for example Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. Other topics consist of events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally for example, the Great Fire of London and the first aeroplane flight or events.

Key Stage 2: The National Curriculum for History outlines that: Pupils should continue to develop chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

The History units taught have been developed to help children appreciate their own identity and the challenges in their time. It will help them understand the process of change over time and significant developments.

Children are given a wide variety of experiences both in the classroom and out. We encourage school visits and visitors into school to enable the children to gain first hand experiences to support their learning.

Pupils are encouraged to think like historians and develop their skills including historical enquiry. There is a strong emphasis on developing children’s other skills such as understanding of chronology, interpretations of evidence, changes within a time and across time periods and cause and consequence.

Impact

History assessment is ongoing to inform teachers with their planning, lesson activities and differentiation. Informal summative assessment is completed at the end of each unit in the form of quizzes and challenges. The results will be used by staff to identify any gaps in children’s learning. Leaders use pupil voice to ascertain the depth of impact of the history curriculum and whether pupils know more and remember more. History is monitored throughout all year groups using a variety of strategies such as folder/book scrutinies, lesson observations and pupil interviews. At least one strategy of monitoring is completed each term for each phase teaching History.