History 

Intent: “Know the Way” 

Throughout the programmes of study, the children will acquire and develop historical knowledge so that they have a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Each historical enquiry enables children to develop new knowledge of a period, event or person and (where appropriate) to make links with prior knowledge to re-enforce their understanding and further develop their historical perspective.  

It is our intention to provide a history curriculum which reflects diversity: this enables our children to learn to value their own and other people’s cultures in modern multicultural Britain.   

We aim to inspire children to achieve a high level of success in history and to have high aspirations for their achievement and engagement in the subject at secondary level and beyond.  We intend to foster a life-long curiosity about past events and people and to provide children with an experience of the study of history that enables them to ask perceptive questions, think critically and develop empathy within a globally- interdependent world.  

Implementation: “Show the Way” 

Following recommendations from the document ‘Progression in History under the 2014 National Curriculum – a guide for schools by Jamie Byrom’ (The Historical Association) we have chosen to use a ‘sandwich’ approach to planning sequences of history lessons. The ‘bread’ of each scheme of learning includes engaging historical enquiry question(s) – sometime devised by pupils – and opportunities for pupils to organise and communicate their findings. Within this history ‘sandwich’ are always objectives for the building of knowledge (people, events, chronology, characteristic features pf periods, historical terms) and building understanding of historical concepts (evidence, interpretation, cause, change, continuity and significance).    

Our history curriculum requires learners to ask historical questions and investigate the answers.  They do this through research using a range of evidence (primary and secondary) and talking about what they have noticed in the context of a specific question. As a school, we have subscribed to Somerset Heritage Learning so that pupils can use a range of evidence to learn about the past. Subject specific loans boxes contain a range of primary artefacts and secondary evidence that pupils can investigate asking historical questions, including (as they progress through Thurlbear) questions about utility and reliability.  

History learning and engagement is also promoted through a range of learning experiences out of school (including for local studies) and pupils have the opportunity to work with a range of experts such as: museum curators and learning officers and archivists. Throughout our history curriculum children are given the opportunity to consider ways in which history links to a variety of current careers including: researchers, museum curators, archaeologists and art historians.   

Each of the units of history work is designed to clearly build on children’s previous knowledge and the use of history vocabulary is integral and progressive within our curriculum. Where relevant, links are made to high quality literary texts that help provide pupils with a context and historical language through stories and other texts. In particular, stories are used to support early history skills and understanding in the EYFS. Children have knowledge organisers to support their learning of each topic. There are opportunities within each scheme of work to assess pupils’ knowledge and understanding and monitor the children’s progress.  Formative assessment is used to address misconceptions or gaps in learning. Teachers use subject specific history criteria to assess history. 

Impact: “Grow the Way” 

Children at Thurlbear Primary school should: 

• Demonstrate a love of history and an interest in further study and work in this field. 
• Know and understand the history of Britain as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day.  
• Know and understand how people’s lives have shaped Britain and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. 
• Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world.  
• Acquire and use historical vocabulary: such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’ and ‘parliament’. 
• Understand historical concepts such as: continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections and draw contrasts. 
• Communicate their understanding in a range of ways including: structured and evidentially supported accounts.  
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry. 
• Use evidence to understand the past – considering the reliability and utility of sources within the context of a specific question.  
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, such as understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history. 
• Achieve age related expectations in history at the end of their cohort year.