History

Our history curriculum is designed to help pupils to develop an interest in and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and how this has shaped the modern world. History helps pupils to understand 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. We deliver our history curriculum through carefully planned thematic topics which enable skills, knowledge and understanding to build and develop across the school.

Through our curriculum, we aim to:

– Develop an understanding of chronological order and where people and events they study fit within a chronological framework

– Enable use of a variety of historical vocabulary

– Develop research skills needed to access and analyse relevant information

– Explore similarities and differences between different times in history

– To interpret different interpretations of historical events

– Help pupils develop a sense of identity through studying the history of their locality

– Understand cross-curricular links eg, Roman Numerals

We also nurture a love of history through participation in events such as our MAC history debate competition and a wide variety of enrichment activities (see year group enrichment maps).

Aims

The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:

– 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

– g​​​ain 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 History – key stages 1 and 2

– 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.

National Curriculum