History
Intent
At Oaklands Community Primary School, children explore history as detectives and work like historians. Children use a range of enquiry skills which supports them to formulate informed decisions based on the past. They have a clear understanding of the chronology of British history and that of the wider world.
We create aspiring and knowledgeable historians, allowing our children to progress through education and beyond with confidence.
Implementation
History is brought to life through field trips, visitors and artefacts, allowing our children to experience what life was like in the past.
In EYFS, the children are introduced to the concept of history. They learn that history is linked to the past and define what past means, starting with how the past can be anything from yesterday to many years ago. We discuss important people at school and at home as well as how their experiences may be different depending on age.
In Key Stage 1, children develop an awareness of the past. They learn about significant individuals who have contributed to the world. Children also learn about significant historical events within their local area. Our pupils start their historical learning with events they are already familiar with, such as Guy Fawkes. Throughout Key Stage One, there is an overarching focus on British history.
In Key Stage 2, children develop an awareness of chronology. Starting with Stone Age Britain in Year 3, children develop a timeline of historical periods throughout the school journey. Our children gain an understanding of history in Britain, including a local study, as well as of history in the wider world. This gives our children a strong base in order for them to move onto the next stage of their education.
Our children are given the opportunity to study a variety of primary and secondary sources, use enquiry skills, make predictions and build their historical knowledge. They learn about key historical events in Britain’s past and how they have shaped life today, as well as learning about historical civilisations and periods across the world.
We complete our history curriculum in weekly blocks over half termly periods. Lessons start with a prior learning slide which draws out their learning using three questions:
- Previous Year
- Last Unit/Lessons
- Key Facts
This gives the children the opportunity to consistently recall prior knowledge from all of their school years, providing them with a stronger understanding of their previous learning and being able to link this to their current learning.
We create our planning using ‘Big Ideas’. This enables the children to link history to different areas of life and link their thoughts and ideas to these areas. Our ‘Big Ideas’ are:
- Invasion
- Settlement
- Religion
- Monarchy
- Civilisation
- Society
- Governance
Impact
Children at Oaklands will be able to:
- Identify key dates in history and chronologically order key periods of time
- Identify key facts about historical periods
- Be able to use evidence to make judgements and present these
- Have an understanding of the complexity of people’s lives during different periods of time
- Draw on knowledge and skills to develop their understanding of changes within different time periods
- Understand the lasting impact of people in our past and how it has shaped today’s world.
This is measured through the use of end of unit assessments and key fact recall for all children. Teachers can then use this data to fill gaps in the children’s learning.