Intent
What is taught?
At Toft Hill Primary, we recognise the importance of History and how it has shaped our lives and locality. As one of the foundation subjects taught in primary schools, we give the learning of History the prominence it requires.
We follow the National Curriculum for History, which aims to ensure that all children:
· know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
· know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
· gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
· understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
· understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed History – key stages 1 and 2 2
· gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
At Toft Hill Primary, we teach history starting with the children’s own timeline and then that of their parents and grandparents to make sure they have a clear understanding of what is meant by the ‘past’. The history of our locality is also taught in great detail starting with our village and then broadening to the history of our country and then ancient civilisations.
Implementation
How is history taught?
When teaching history, we see it as essential that there is a clear understanding of chronology and events which have occurred in the local area, for example, Shildon’s part in the birth of the railway and why the Romans settled in our area. Throughout the different year groups, we have a focus on the development of vocabulary, specific to the topics being taught. Planning focuses on the key knowledge that the children should know and remember and teaching and learning in the classroom encourages children to retain these key facts and information.
“Progress means knowing more and remembering more.” OFSTED
Teachers approach topics in different ways depending on the topic being taught:
1. Topics may be blocked and taught across most afternoons for a 2/3 week period.
2. History could be taught once a week for a number of weeks.
Impact
Why is history taught in this way?
The history curriculum is taught this way at Toft Hill so that children understand major events from the past which have effected their village and immediate locality and so they have a deep understanding of different civilisations from different periods of time. The main reasons for teaching history this way is that by the end of KS2 pupils will be confident when:
• Using timelines to show their understanding of chronology
• Discussing the importance of our locality in history
• Understanding how national events have affected our community
• Identifying reliable sources of information (primary)
• Recalling key knowledge from the topics completed e.g. dates etc.
Our Curriculum documents
