History

Our topics are structured so that the children have the opportunity to work as historians, and are taught specific knowledge through the following concepts of History:

• Historical Interpretation and Historical Enquiry
• Chronology and Sequencing
• Similarities and Differences
• Cause and Consequence (impact/ effect)
• Continuity and Change
• Significance.

We structure our curriculum using whole school topics and we focus on specific subjects in blocks over a number of weeks. This enables us to go deeper into subjects and to make meaningful connections with other subjects.

In the Foundation Stage children develop crucial knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of the world and form the foundation for historical work in Key Stage 1. They will:

Learn that they have similarities and differences that connect them to, and distinguish them from others

Remember and talk about significant events in their own experience

Develop an understanding of growth, decay and changes over time

Look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change

Use a range of sources – pictures and objects.

In Key Stage 1 children will:

Being a Historian

Develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They will begin to develop an understanding of where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They will gain an understanding of some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented and begin to draw their own interpretations.

Children will be taught about:

Historical content

• Changes within living memory
• Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally
• The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some individuals will be used to compare aspects of life in different periods
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality

In Key Stage 2 children will:

Being a Historian

Continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear knowledge within the periods they study. They will regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, and significance. They will construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They will develop an understanding of how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources and continue to develop the skill of interpreting these sources.

Children will be taught about:

Historical content:

• 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
• A local history study – Growth of St Ann’s
• A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 – World War ll
• The achievements of the earliest civilizations – Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
• A non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – Mayan civilisation