History
Intent
At Woodcocks’ Well CE (VA) Primary School we are discovering a world of wonder, empowered by God’s spirit. We are passionate that our children should be curious and inquisitive when it comes to learning about history. Throughout our History Curriculum we foster the ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ Values; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Our history curriculum enables pupils to understand and value the social, political, cultural and economic events which have defined modern society and makes a valuable contribution to our children’s understanding of all aspects of life, giving a sense of identity and heritage. Our curriculum ensures that children are passionate about the past in Britain but also to learn what life was like in the wider world throughout key historical periods. As the children become immersed in their historical learnings, they will see and understand the diversity of human experiences in the past, leading to them understanding more about themselves and their individual experiences within society. What they will learn and discover throughout history will ultimately have an impact on their own future decisions, choices, attitudes and values.
Throughout the key stages the requirements of the National Curriculum for history will be met. Teachers will provide a broad, balanced and adaptive curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills.
The aims of teaching history in our school are:
To instil in the children a curiosity and understanding of events, places and people in a variety of times and environment
To develop an interest in the past and an appreciation of human achievements and aspirations
To understand the values of our society
To learn about the major issues and events in the history of our own country and of the wider world and how these events may have influenced one another
To develop a knowledge of chronology within which the children can organise their understanding of the past
To understand how the past was different from the present and that people of other times and places may have had different values and attitudes from ours
To understand the nature of evidence by emphasising the process of enquiry and by developing the range of skills required to interpret primary and secondary source materials
To distinguish between historical facts and the interpretation of those facts
To understand that events have a multiplicity of causes, and that historical explanation is provisional, debatable and sometimes controversial
Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers
All children will have Ordinarily Available Inclusive Practice (OAIP). Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of Pupil Premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs. As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.
Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. History is taught on a two-year rolling plan in Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2. A new topic is introduced at the start of every other half term and focuses on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At Woodcocks’ Well CE (VA) Primary School, we ensure that history has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences.
Teachers plan lessons for their class using curriculum documents, outlining the essential knowledge and skills to be taught in each topic. Teachers can use this document to plan their history lessons suitable to their class’s interests and what they want to learn. At Woodcocks’ Well CE (VA) Primary School we provide a variety of opportunities for history-based learning inside and outside the classroom. Every year we have a ‘Humanities Enrichment Afternoon’ where the teachers plan fun, engaging activities linked to history and geography for the children to complete.
Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional history learning outside the classroom, through residentials and educational visits children will be exposed to a variety of learning experiences.
Impact
Within history, we create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry-based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on investigative learning opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge of understanding of each unit of work covered throughout the school.
Our history curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge, skills and discrete vocabulary. pupils at Woodcocks’ Well are equipped with historical knowledge and enquiry skills that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about history, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in their future.
We measure the impact of our history curriculum through the following methods:
Summative assessment via a Learning Question review lesson to identify what knowledge the children have gained.
Formative assessment which may be marked work in books or images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
Subject Leader monitoring in-line with the school’s monitoring arrangements I
Annual report to Governors