History at All Saints
Intent
In our Early Years setting, pupils work towards the Development Matters objectives:
Understanding the World (30-50 months):
- Recognises and describes special times or events for family or friends
- Shows interest in different occupations and ways of life
- Comments and asks questions about aspects of their familiar world such as where they live or the natural world
- Develop an understanding of growth, decay and changes over time
Understanding the World (40-60 months):
- Enjoys joining in with family customs and routines.
- Looks closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change.
For pupils in KS1 and KS2, the National Curriculum for history is followed. This provides a structure for all pupils to meet the following aims:
- know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
- know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
- understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
- gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
Implementation
History is planned and taught by the class teacher and supported by the curriculum leader.
Children learn about the past through enquiry by investigating historical sources and a variety of reference books and materials. A sense of chronology is developed through the use of a timeline and discussions linking different periods of time. Opportunities are given to make clear links between time periods through themes such as education, food and drink etc.
Visits to historical sites are planned within topics and comply with the guidelines in the school’s Health and Safety document.
When planning a project, the content for study at our school includes;
- Chronological understanding,
- Knowledge and understanding,
- Historical interpretation,
- Historical enquiry
- Organisation and communication.
