Subject Vision:

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” – Marcus Garvey  
Our history curriculum aims to inspire our pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past and how it has shaped the present – and will shape the future. History helps pupils to understand the process of change, the diversity of societies as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.  We hope that their knowledge and historical skills will help them make more informed life choices and aspire to be open-minded citizens, making a valuable contribution to society: asking perceptive questions, thinking critically, weighing evidence and developing perspective. Many of our children have experiences restricted to their own local area, therefore we aim to focus on developing their sense of global citizenship and understanding of diversity by introducing world history early in their learning journey, while making links to local history and their familial stories so that children develop their understanding of both the community in which they are rooted and the diversity of their own country, the UK and the wider world.  
 

Intent:
We seek to create a life-long love of the subject, through teaching our children about their own stories, learning from visitors, trips, and through the use of historical artefacts and interpretations of history. This enables our children to be historians – piecing together evidence – and we see historical enquiry as the vehicle for engaging and enabling them – allowing children opportunities to apply their knowledge and use disciplinary skills.  As they continue on their journey of History, we aim to foster a deep understanding of the subject that develops alongside their skills. Our curriculum is designed to provide our children with the subject specific language they need to describe, question and discuss historical events and their impact on the world. Our pupils are encouraged to recognise that they have a voice and to use it confidently to debate topics that they feel passionate about. We aim to produce well- rounded individuals by providing our children with opportunities to expand their cultural capital and experiences of the world. We have a strong focus on understanding of diversity and world history, as we understand that some of our children have limited experiences in our rural setting. In addition, to our curriculum overview, we study an additional whole school Black history project each year and celebrate this together.

From EYFS children explore history within living memory of both their parents and themselves.  As children move through the school, they build upon personal experience to develop a knowledge of history that is relevant to themselves and their school context, by looking at the history of Childhood and Victorian Schools.  Through KS2 children begin to widen their knowledge and investigative skills to encompass the earliest humans and ancient civilizations.  The timeline that the children study also encompasses significant historical periods and events for the United Kingdom and the commonwealth.  

This means following a skills-progression curriculum model with knowledge underpinning the application of skills. The 2002 Education Act requires schools to provide a ‘balanced and broadly based curriculum’ which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of children at our schools and prepares them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. 

Implementation:
We use carefully planned history units to ensure knowledge- rich coverage of the National Curriculum. Study is underpinned by the ‘golden threads’ of learning:  Invasion and settlement   Legacy   Empire   Civilisation and Society   Monarchy   Religion. Our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum Programmes of Study but will be enriched by class trips, residentials and planned enquiries. The curriculum builds on Early Years practice; in the Early Years, children are taught about how to explore their own family and village history and develop the skills needed to understand chronology and change. They explore the past through stories, understanding that aspects of society such as housing, transport, clothing and technology change over time. In KS1, these skills are built on as children explore more specific changes to familiar aspects of life, such as toys and childhood, as well as branching out further to consider societal changes which have impacted on us such as nursing, the fire service and global exploration. In KS2, children explore world history in depth, learning about a range of civilisations and making links between them. They learn that good questions are the engine of historical enquiry.   Each cycle of lessons is carefully planned for progression and depth, and retrieval is supported by the use of quizzes in each lesson to help children retain facts and knowledge and make links between prior and current learning. 

At Lapford Community Primary School, History led topics are taught across a half term making strong cross curricular links. In topics where History is not the driving subject, historical skills and knowledge will be regularly revisited by interleaving within the focus area.  Lessons will use a variety of engaging teaching and learning methods including debate, role play and use of technology, to ensure children are active learners. The school will maximise opportunities to use its own location and artefacts.   Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons that will be assessed for progress in History. Visits, visitors and residential visits provide rich resources for children to develop a sense of time and place and cultural awareness.  Through their learning they will develop a sense of chronology, the ability to discuss and question cause and consequence, an understanding of historical interpretation and be able to use historical enquiry skills. They will be able to communicate their findings in a variety of ways. 
 

Impact:
Our History curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression across a phase of learning.  As they progress through the primary phase from Nursery to Year Six, children build on knowledge through a continuum of small steps and gain independence when finding out about the past from a range of sources. They learn to organise and communicate their findings, demonstrating a clear understanding of historical concepts. They learn how to articulate their understanding with a growing confidence in the use of subject specific words.

The impact of this will be seen when talking to the children about their interest and attitude towards historical learning and in their confidence to engage, discuss, reason, question and debate.  This will demonstrate children’s ability to apply generalisations to understand the world around them. Evidence of learning will be in their books, classroom displays and heard in discussions. Teachers will use formative assessment methods to identify children’s understanding.  The children will be given opportunities to present their learning in a variety of ways – such as presentations, role play, open days and assemblies. By Year 6 substantive knowledge will be in place in order for children to meet with the aims of the National Curriculum.