Christ Church Church of England Primary School History

History at Christ Church CE VA Primary School

‘Together, with God’s love, we can achieve anything’

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils 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.

Aims

The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:

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

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.

Intent

We intend that children:

• Develop a positive attitude and enthusiasm, from the Early Years onwards, for history study
• Ensure pupils develop historical knowledge and understanding appropriate to their age-related National Curriculum expectations.
• Provide understanding that the society in which pupils live has been shaped by history and that history evidence is within their current surroundings.
• Understand local history as it pertains to Padgate, Warrington and the wider country / world. This includes using historical sources of evidence relating to the history of our School, which opened in 1843.
• Develop a sense of chronology that increases in sophistication as children progress through the curriculum
• Develop the ability to communicate historical knowledge in oral, written and visual forms, using appropriate vocabulary and techniques.
• Enable history to support and enrich other areas of the curriculum, for example in Geography, Science, MFL…
• Know and understand how the British system of democratic government has developed and, in so doing, to contribute to a child’s citizenship education; this includes learning about the contribution other cultures have made to Modern Britain.
• Through historical enquiry and study we also:
• Improve pupils skills in English, Maths & IT / Computing
• Develop pupils’ thinking skills by increasing their knowledge for wider application
• Promote pupils awareness and understanding of gender, cultural, spiritual and moral issues
• Create active citizens.

Detail

• We have a planned two –year cycle to deliver our History Curriculum, which reflects our mixed-age classes. We make judgements against attainment and progress expectations annually for reporting purposes, with the aim of children having mastered the relevant National Curriculum for their Key stages /sub-Key Stages by their end.
• History is a subject where subject-specific teaching is required and so children are made aware that they are studying ‘History’ wherever such study is undertaken within a wider thematic field of study that includes other-subject learning.  So, whilst where appropriate, history units of study are referenced within English lesson tasks and are approached in a cross-curricular manner, we ensuring that teachers and children are clear as to the historical skills and knowledge focus of the lesson. Other lessons are delivered without such cross-reference.
• We engage children’s interest and imagination in History through the use of ‘Hook in’ and Hook out’ experiences.
• Historical learning is the focus of History lessons and progress is judged against History expectations, using skills progression charts for moderation.
• All children carry out lesson tasks based on Bloom’s Order of Thinking Skills. Children are progressively expected to develop independence when carrying out research and to discover their own methods of presenting their findings.
• We use Knowledge Organisers, issued termly or half-termly, to ensure that children and parents are clear as to the expected Knowledge base children are expected to accumulate within each unit of study.
• Fieldwork provides first hand experiences and act as a stimulus for pupils. In planning fieldwork, sites will be consulted / visited to ascertain risk assessment procedures.  Planned activities will take account of the need to be aware of the health and safety of all children participating.
• In EYFS, history teaching is based on guidance from the Understanding of the World unit.
• Differentiation is based on assessment.  Children with SEND will be supported appropriately to access the Curriculum, including access to field educational visits. Very able children will be assigned tasks that stretch further their understanding, using Bloom’s taxonomy to ensure sufficient demand on their intellect.

Impact

Children through monitoring are increasingly able to articulate their growing knowledge of historical terms and concepts. We are working to strengthen some aspects of the subject.

There is a very strong resonance between the School’s local historical enquiry regarding its former pupils who served and lost their lives in the Great War and the Second World War and our annual Remembrance Day services. Please see the video links and information below.