History

History Curriculum

 

Intent

History is vital to a rich and broad curriculum. It helps pupils to make sense of the present as well as the past, and to appreciate the complexity and diversity of human societies and development.

 

We aim to instill a love of History in all our children.

 

Our History curriculum has been designed to:

• cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as outlined in the National Curriculum
• engage and excite children’s curiosity and support the development of key historical knowledge
• empower learners to become curious, to develop their own opinions based on respect for evidence
• provide content which help learners to address fundamental issues in human history
• extend knowledge and understanding of key events, periods and societies through an assessment of local, British and world history across key stages
• stimulate pupils’ curiosity.

 

We aim to provide our children with a rigorous history curriculum that instils them the key skills and knowledge to gain an in depth and critical understanding of the past. The history curriculum is purposefully constructed to allow children to make links between topics and have a good chronology awareness of the past. We want children to leave Rushey Green with enquiring minds that have a thirst for learning about the past and analyse it with a critical and open mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Implementation

We take an enquiry-based approach to teaching history whereby each topic is framed upon a key question that guides the teaching. Across the whole school curriculum, children study the key historical concepts of chronology; significance; change and continuity; cause/consequence and interpretation.

 

These selected substantive concepts (outlined in the curriculum map) reoccur in topics across the key stages, which enable children to gain a good understanding of chronology and make links between different periods of history.

 

Assessments are carried out at the end of each topic which address children’s understanding of the enquiry question. Children within KS2 will undertake a pre-assessment and post-assessment quiz, which assesses prior learning and retention and focusses upon the factual and chronological knowledge. Books are monitored throughout the year and pupil voices are conducted to ensure the content/skills are covered as planned and that the children are retaining their knowledge and understanding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Impact

Our children develop a sound overview of the past and the ability to analyse it with a critical mind. Our class work shows how our enquiry-based approach gives real purpose and focus to each topic; each lesson planned carefully to address the overall question. Our curriculum map shows a whole school curriculum that has been planned carefully to teach the main historical concepts through a range of contexts in a way that creates links between periods and events. Children will be enthused by their history topics, through cross-curricular activities which immerses them in the period; creating intrigue and enjoyment. Our assessments and monitoring allow us to see the impact of our teaching, guide future planning and ensure that our standards of teaching are high.