History

Intent

At Prior Heath it is our intention that teaching in History will stimulate pupils’ curiosity and interest to understand about people and past events and how they impact upon current lives.

Our intent for our History approach is:

To develop an awareness of the past.
To understand the importance of pupil’s own personal history and introduce them to the idea of chronology and timelines.
To explore chronology and how this helps pupils identify key events which have influenced their lives today.
To make all pupils aware of the actions of important people in history and enable them to know about significant events in British history.
To identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods.
To explore and examine a range of historical sources and artefacts.
To ask questions about the past.
To give justified opinions and reach logical conclusions.

Implementation

History teaching is implemented through the Early Years Foundation Stage (Understanding the World) and the National Curriculum programme of study for Key Stage 1 by setting high ambitions and expectations for all pupils.

In EYFS, pupils find out about past and present events in their own lives, their families and other people they know. The National Curriculum provides a structure and skill development for the History curriculum being taught. In Key Stage 1 we implement History through a topic based approach, exploring changes within living memory, events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally and discovering about the lives of significant individuals and events that have had an impact on society and our lives.  The use of language relating to time is used in daily routines and conversations with pupils for example, ‘yesterday’, ‘old’, ‘past’, ‘now’ and ‘then’. A range of historical sources are used to enhance pupils’ understanding and bring history to life. Pupils are given a variety of learning experiences both in the classroom, and through visits, visitors and workshops to create memorable learning opportunities to further support and develop their understanding. History assessment is ongoing throughout the topic to inform teachers with their planning, lesson activities and differentiation.

Impact

The successful approach to teaching History at Prior Heath results in fun, engaging lessons that show pupils are motivated to extend their learning. Pupils will show enquiry skills in their independent learning and be able to make judgements based on their knowledge of the past. Outcomes in books, displays and pupil voice, evidence a broad and balanced History curriculum and demonstrate pupils’ acquisition of identified key knowledge. They show clear progression of skills and opportunities for pupils to articulate what they have learnt. Pupils will have participated in high-quality visits/visitors/workshops to further appreciate the impact of History.

The Progression of Skills for History from Reception to Year 2 can be found here. (PDF, 294.67 kB)