History

Intent

At Edward Betham we have designed a high quality history curriculum which  will instill in our pupils a curiosity and fascination about life in the past both in Britain and in the wider world. Pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. We structure lessons around different methods of historical enquiry to enable children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. Through the teaching of History, we endeavour to teach children to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. Pupils are encouraged to make links between different periods of time studied in order to understand key concepts more fully. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining knowledge and skills.  Our curriculum is enhanced through the use of workshops and educational visits. 

Implementation

• In EYFS pupils develop an understanding of the world around them. Children are encouraged to talk about the past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. Teachers provide opportunities for pupils to reflect upon their changing understanding of key events (eg festivals, anniversaries) as they grow older

• Teachers have planned our history curriculum to be ambitious and sequential.  Knowledge and skills build year on year and key concepts are revisited in different units of work.
• The history curriculum is designed to be enquiry based and where possible lessons are structured around a ‘Big Question’ which enables pupils to explore the past through a range of historical sources. They are encouraged to ask and answer their own questions. Each subsequent lesson informs the child with information to enable them to have a answer to this by the end of the unit
• In KS1and KS2 three History units are taught per year. Each unit has 5 lessons of at least an hour and a half
• The History theme will form the focus of the Topic working wall for the duration of the unit. The working walls include visual stimuli and key vocabulary.
• Each lesson is structured around SOLO Taxonomy. Pupil outcomes are linked to these success criteria.  Every lesson pupils are expected to reach the ‘Relational’ level of learning. Pupils have an opportunity at the end of each lesson to complete an ‘Extended Abstract’ challenge question.  These are structured as challenging questions which encourage pupils to apply their learning to an unknown scenario – eg Do you think it is right that children worked in Victorian times? Children must justify their answers with evidence from the lesson. These challenge questions provide evidence of pupils working at Greater Depth. 
• Chronology forms an important part of our curriculum. Every lesson includes an element of chronology to enable our children to have an understanding of key events and periods of history and how these relate to one another.  A timeline is displayed in each class and added to as the children’s knowledge grows.
• Staff plan key questions carefully to prompt deep discussion and ensure work is demanding for all groups of pupils.
• Children become familiar with primary and secondary sources of information. Close examination of photographs, artefacts, maps, documents are used to encourage pupils to ask questions and answer questions about the past
• In KS1, the historical skills covered focus on the world around them and their living memory of history before moving to events that go beyond living history. Pupils develop the skill of comparing life in the past to life in the present using a range of historical sources. This ensures a firm foundation for KS2 History.
• In KS2, the history curriculum is set out in chronological order to allow children to reference previous events in time and to refer to this prior learning year-on-year and within the year.
• The use of knowledge organisers are to aid teachers in planning their knowledge and skills and students in understanding the expectations by the end of the unit.
• High quality vocabulary is taught within the unit and reinforced throughout the year.
• Key concepts such as monarchy or civilisation, are taught within lessons and then revisited through further topics to ensure children have a sound understanding of the concept and how it relates through different periods of history.
• Activities (e.g. quizzes, cloze procedure, spot the difference) recap and revisit knowledge from previous lessons or previous years, at the start of each lesson.

Impact

As a result of a high quality curriculum, by the end of KS2 children develop critical and analytical thinking. They are able to make informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past. Children can discuss coherently how historical events have shaped the world that they currently live in. They have a detailed understanding of history on a local level.  Children develop enquiry skills and have opportunities to pursue their own research within a topic.  They retain prior-learning and explicitly make connections between what they have previously learned and what they are currently learning. It is expected that the majority of our pupils will meet, or exceed, the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for History.

Key Documents

Please click on the links below to open

History Curriculum Map

History Knowledge and Skills Progression

History National Curriculum Programme of Study