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History

Intent

As a Historian, it is important to understand the history not just of the world, but also that of Britain and our local area. It is about understanding how one element of the past influenced the next, and how these have impacted our lives today. At Eastbury, our History curriculum is designed to inspire pupil’s curiosity about the past and what we can learn from it. Pupils will gain clear knowledge and understanding of their world and the chronology of events that have led us to where we are at today. We base our History Curriculum around an enquiry-based approach. We teach history through an enquiry-based approach. Historical enquiry allows our children to question, interpret, explain and communicate their reasoning as a historian. Each history unit is launched with a ‘big enquiry question’ – a question where the answer is unknown at the beginning of the unit, but one that the children will be able to answer by the end. Our curriculum ensures that pupils can recall key facts and information, whilst also developing their historical enquiry skills. This is achieved through the analysis and interpretation of a range of information sources, along with continual questioning opportunities.

History objectives are met in Early Years through a cross-curricular, immersive approach to ‘Understand our World’.

Past and Present ELG Children at the expected level of development will:

Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society
Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class
Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling

Implementation

Our History curriculum is taught explicitly from Year 1 through to Year 6, with topics organised chronologically from Year 3 onwards. Topics in Years 1 and 2 provide a basis for contrasting one focus area between two different periods in time. History objectives are met in Early Years through a cross-curricular, immersive approach to ‘Understand our World’.

Each lesson begins with a child led enquiry to support them to lead the learning.
Key vocabulary is identified for each unit taught and is presented to the pupils in the form of ‘target words’. These are explicitly taught during the learning sequence, and teachers and pupils continually assess the understanding of these.
Complementing our chronologically progressive curriculum, historical skills are consolidated and built upon through each unit and year group.
Our History long-term plan supports teachers in planning each learning sequence, which states progressive knowledge and skills to ensure a full coverage.
Work is adapted to meet the needs of all pupils in each History lesson.
Classroom working walls reflect the learning journey of the class, highlighting key knowledge, skill development and target vocabulary.
At the end of a unit, post-learning assessments provide an opportunity for pupils to demonstrate what they have learnt across their given topic and reflect upon and consolidate their learning. These also provide formative assessment for future spaced learning.

Impact

As our Year 6 pupils transition to year 7, we aspire that they will have developed a historical mind of inquiry. Pupils will also have a strong chronological understanding of historical events, making connection between their influence on the past and their potential influence on future events.

Our children are able to critically reflect on the past and explain how it effects our present and future. They are active learners who are engaged and challenged.

"He argued that learning was an active rather than a passive process where children learn by doing and by interacting, and that tasks should as far as possible be challenging and be related to the pupils’ real-life experiences. One of Dewey’s fundamental ideas is that children and their interests should be the starting point for learning. Because of this, enquiries should be extensions of what the pupils already know, building on and making connections with prior learning. The skilful teacher ensures that this takes place, capitalising on what the children bring to their work."

How is the curriculum sequenced?

At Eastbury, our History Curriculum is sequenced from the National Curriculum. Where possible, we aim to create links with other curriculum areas. We have created a skills progression document which goes hand in hand with the long term planning. This ensures skills are being taught and developed at the correct times. In key stage 2, we ensure the curriculum is taught chronological to help the children understand how to organise these events in chronological order and see how different parts of history effect others.

How are you building on prior knowledge and skills?

The History Curriculum is mapped out carefully to help develop children’s knowledge and skills throughout their journey at Eastbury. We ensure previous knowledge is highlighted within the knowledge organisers and these are shared with children and parents. We have created a skills progression document which goes hand in hand with the long term planning. This ensures skills are being taught and developed at the correct times and being built upon.

How are we implementing the recovery curriculum?

Following the school closures due to Covid-19, our priority is for children to feel safe and secure as they return to school. Our recovery curriculum focuses on looking at key concepts from the National Curriculum. From this, the History Curriculum has been carefully sequenced to ensure we focus on any key skills that have been missed to close gaps in our children’s learning. We're ensuring we are equipping the children with key vocabulary and facts before the lesson.

Eastbury Community School

History

Long Term Planning

Medium Term Planning

Autumn Knowledge Organisers

Spring Knowledge Organisers

Summer Knowledge Organisers

History Skills Progression

Evidence of practice

Policy