History Curriculum Lead
Mr P Williams
Curriculum Intent
At St. John's Catholic Primary, we aim to deliver a high-quality history curriculum that will help develop pupils' passion for learning and gain a coherent and chronological knowledge of Britain and the wider world. We aim to ensure all pupils develop their skills of historical enquiry and begin to communicate as historians. Without an understanding of our past, we have no real sense of our present.
History is all around us: in our families with their unique backgrounds, cultures and traditions and in our local and wider communities. Our intent, when teaching history, is to stimulate pupils' curiosity about the past and to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world.
History in Early Years:
Three and Four-Year-Olds Communication and Language
- Understand how questions like, "How do you celebrate your birthday?'
Understanding the World
ELG: Past and Present
- 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;
- Begin to make sense of their own life story and family's history
Reception
Communication and Language
- Learn new historical vocabulary to develop an understanding of chronology: yesterday, last week, last year, now, then, a long time ago, a very long time ago;
- Ask questions to find out more and to check what has been said to them;
- Describe events in some detail;
- Use talk to organise thinking and activities;
- Use new vocabulary in different contexts;
- Use WOW (Word of the Week) to introduce specific historical terms such as Monarch, crown, battlements or portcullis.
Curriculum Implementation
As a school within Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, we teach a scheme of work designed by a transition team of our primary school staff working with subject specialists from our secondary schools. This means our curriculum has been designed to ensure clear progression, in the acquisition of knowledge and key skills building on pupils' prior knowledge. We teach termly, discreet topics for all pupils from Year 1 to Year 6. The curriculum units of work have been clearly identified minimum knowledge 'end points', and have been sequenced to ensure that pupils know more and remember more as they move through primary school and transfer into Key Stage 3.
Our curriculum covers the National Curriculum and is underpinned by the building blocks of History (Threshold Concepts) which are emphasised and reinforced in the history curriculum across our schools from KS1 to KS5:
- Developing chronological understanding
- Communicate history
- Investigating the past
- Thinking like a historian
Each unit of work has a clear rationale, key topic vocabulary, builds on pupils' prior knowledge and skills (end points) that pupils will learn. Assessment strands in topics give pupils the opportunity to demonstrate their learning and the knowledge companions that we call 'Learn it! Link it!' help pupils to remember the key elements of the topic. This helps pupils organise their learning into relevant areas and make links to other areas and subjects. Conceptual (golden) threads of History are woven through our curriculum to ensure consistency, add focus and promote purposeful learning.
Topics and units lay out sequential components of learning which equates to 8-10 hours of teaching.
Key Stage 1
Pupils are taught about:
- Changes within living memory: Toys through Time
- Events beyond living memory that have a national significance: Gunpowder Plot, Great Fire of London
- The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements: Women in History, Explorers
- Some topics compare aspects of life in different periods: Women in History, Comparing Queens, Explorers
- Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality
Key Stage 2
All pupils are taught about:
- Ancient Greece - a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the Western World
- Ancient Egypt - the achievements of the earliest civilisations
- Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
- The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
- Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
- The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
- A non-European society that provides contrasts with British history - early Islamic civilisation, Mayan civilisation
For the aspect or theme in British history, we have selected to teach pupils about:
- Henry VIII and the Reformation
- The Changing Power of the Monarchy from absolute rule to constitutional rule
- Conflict through time
- Crime and Punishment
- Victorian Britain and the Industrial Revolution including the development of the railways
Local Context of our School
To address the local context, our scheme includes: the development of the railways from Stockton to Darlington and Captain Cook as a key explorer. Our curriculum includes opportunities to make links to local history where we can.
Curriculum Impact
When pupils leave our school, pupils will know more, remember more and understand more about History. They will have developed a secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods covered and developed the ability to think and write like a historian.
The outcomes in History books evidence a broad and balanced history curriculum and demonstrate the pupils' acquisition of knowledge and topic 'end points'. The majority of pupils will achieve age-related expectations in History and clear progress will be evident in topic work and in topic-assessed tasks. They will have the firm foundations in History and are well-placed to make good progress at Key Stage 3.