History
The History Curriculum at Ursula Taylor C of E School.
Our Intent
At UT we understand that the rich subject of History can inspire our children to identify with and understand more about people in the past. Through our curriculum offer, we hope to develop our children's understanding of their place in the world and to challenge our children to understand the similarities and differences across time and place.
We aim to teach children about the complexity of people's lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and beliefs while celebrating these differences.
Our Intent is that:
- Our curriculum is designed to be engaging and to ensure full access and inclusion for all of our children.
- History is taught as a discrete subject, ensuring that substantive and disciplinary knowledge is a priority.
- The richness of History is promoted through cross-curricular links, creating opportunities for furthering historical understanding through subjects such as Geography, Art and Design Technology.
- We endeavor to enrich our curriculum with school trips and visits such as to the Holocaust Museum and the Cecil Higgins Museum. Our trips are planned to bring History learning to life and give our children cultural experiences that may not otherwise experience.
- We have planned our curriculum to build on children's knowledge as they move through the school, starting in Reception developing through 'Understanding the World' and travelling through Key Stage 1 and to the end of Key Stage 2 as they prepare to transition to Secondary Education and Key Stage 3.
- Our curriculum is designed to enable our children to 'know more and remember more' through the teaching of substantive knowledge of facts and information.
- We intend that children's substantive knowledge will be enhanced by developing their disciplinary knowledge and their ability to ask questions, be analytical and develop an awareness of sources, evidence and cause and consequence.
- Through engaging and interesting lessons, we want to inspire children to want to know more about the past and think and act as historians, understanding their role in time.
Our Implementation
The History curriculum at Ursula Taylor is based on the National Curriculum and has been structured to be complementary to the topics / themes we cover during the school year.
Using timelines in class, we support children to connect events together, making them more memorable and deepening their understanding of events and periods, while supporting children to orientate their knowledge in time.
Through our carefully planned curriculum we support our children to develop a mental timeline and to understand the chronological order of broad periods, and linking themes across periods of time. To aid implementation of the History curriculum we have a whole school overview which details how our History teaching builds across the school. The summary below details this on a basic level. Please see the overview document for more detail and how this links to our Geography Curriculum.
| Year 1 |
Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
William Caxton nd Tim Berners-Lee
Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong
Victorian Seasides
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| Year 2 |
Great Fire of London
Significant Historical Figures: Beatrix Potter, Grace Darling, Alfred the Great.
Robert Burns, St David, St Patrick
Giant's Causeway.
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| Year 3 |
Ancient Egypt
Stone Age / Iron Age
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| Year 4 |
Ancient Romans
Roman Britain
John Bunyan and Local History
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| Year 5 |
Ancient Greeks
Moon Landings (linked to Science Topic of Space)
Race to the South Pole
Invaders and Settlers
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| Year 6 |
World War 2
Tudor History and Battle of Bosworth.
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Our Rationale for the order with which we teach Historical periods.
The vast majority of historical periods are taught in chronological order to support children's understanding of time and place and how periods in time link together. Some themes are taught out of order, for example Moon Landings because this links so well to the Y5 Topic of Space and WW2 is taught in the Autumn Term to link with enrichment opportunities e.g. Shuttleworth and the English texts being covered which are rich opportunities for children to develop a wide range of Historical and English Skills.
We have mapped the knowledge and skills for each area to ensure they are taught progressively and in a logical and sequential structure.
To ensure lessons build upon each other, teachers identify gaps in learning and determine how best to plug these gaps and take into consideration children's prior learning.
Lessons are planned to be engaging, to encourage children to be curious and to ask questions. Key vocabulary is taught and built on year on year.
The Impact of our Curriculum
Through our curriculum offer and the careful planning of a rich, engaging and inspiring curriculum the children will be able to:
- Know more and remember more. Specifically substantive knowledge, fact and information about a variety of periods in time.
- Understand the chronology of history and identify their place within history.
- Have developed a mental timeline which becomes more complex as children progress through the school.
- See themselves as Historians, using disciplinary knowledge to understand about life in different times through History.
- Have experienced and focused upon a range of Historical Concepts, developing their ability to 'think like a historian' these include: Cause, consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, sources and evidence and historical interpretation.
- Children will enjoy history as a subject, be curious and interested to find out more and speak confidently about their learning and the skills they have as historians.
The impact of our History Curriculum is measured in a variety of ways. Questioning during lessons, through marking and feedback, listening the child led discussions, through pupil voice and through reviewing work in children's books.