History

History Curriculum Statement 

Intent

At Heather Garth, we believe that high-quality History lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past. The skills taught across EYFS feed into the History National Curriculum. We encourage our children to think and act as Historians and Archaeologists to meet the needs of all children and provide them with a range of Historical skills and knowledge based on the National Curriculum and EYFS Curriculum.

By adopting a topic curriculum approach, children have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understanding chronology. They build an overview of Britain’s past as well as that of the wider world and are able to communicate historically. We develop children with the following essential characteristics to help them become Historians: 

• An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods, including significant events in Britain’s past.
• The ability to think critically about History and communicate ideas confidently to a range of audiences.
• The ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical evidence from a range of sources.
• The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
• A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make critical use of it to support their learning.
• A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics.
• A developing sense of curiosity about the past and how and why people interpret the past in different ways.

Implementation

Our History Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. Teachers plan cycles of lessons which allows for progression and depth. Challenge questions are incorporated for pupils to allow them to apply their learning in a philosophical and open manner. Knowledge organisers are used to support children as well as outline knowledge (including vocabulary) the children must master.  Educational visits and visiting experts are also used to enhance the learning experience of our pupils. All pupils have access to adult support throughout their lessons.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured through a reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes. Pupil discussions about their learning and how pupils are able to articulate their knowledge using historical language is also a key indicator of the progress they have made towards intended outcomes. Formative assessment is ongoing throughout each lesson. Formative assessment measures progress and enables teachers to make flexible adaptations to their teaching and planning. Lessons provide a level of challenge that is stimulating for pupils through the use effective questioning skills. Summative assessment is documented on INSIGHTS regularly.

The Subject Termly Overview can be found on our Website