Aston by Sutton Primary SchoolHistory
Intent
At Aston by Sutton Primary School, the purpose of our history curriculum is to inspire in our pupils a curiosity and fascination about Britain’s past and the wider world. We aspire for our children to develop into active learners who not only have a passion for history, but who are equipped with the skills to think and act as historians.
The core aims of our history curriculum are for our children to be able to ask perceptive questions, to think critically, to weigh evidence and sift arguments and to develop perspective and judgement.
Through the study of history at Aston by Sutton Primary School, we want our children to be able to begin 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.
Our history curriculum is informed by the National Curriculum and makes strong links to our wider local area to enable children to develop a deep understanding of the rich history of the locality in which they live. This supports our children to develop perspective of how our locality is part of the story of history and helps pupils to gain a sense of their own identity within a social, political, cultural and economic background.
Implementation
At Aston by Sutton Primary School, our history curriculum is planned in line with the National Curriculum throughout KS1 and KS2. Our EYFS follows the “Development Matters in the EYFS” guidance which aims for all children in reception to have an “Understanding of the World; people and communities, the world past and present” by the end of the academic year.
At KS1 and KS2, we follow an enquiry-led curriculum which encourages and enables our pupils to develop their understanding of history’s disciplinary concepts and their ability to apply them. Our history topics begin with a key question which children are supported to answer through a sequence of effectively-planned lessons. They follow golden threads from EYFS to Year 6, Society/culture and change, Leaders and achievements/legacy. Children are able to revisit key facts and information on a regular basis through retrieval activities and these ensure that the knowledge is ingrained in their long-term memory. The key knowledge and skills of each topic have been identified and consideration has been given to ensure progression throughout the school. We ensure that through the use of clearly-displayed timelines, children are able to contextualise their learning and begin to draw comparisons and contrasts through periods of time.
Basic Skills: History is taught as a discrete subject to ensure that children are able to be taught the specific skills and concepts to become effective historians. Cross-curricular links are made to give children opportunities to enable further contextual learning.
Language: Our curriculum ensures opportunities for children to hear, use and recap both topic and procedural vocabulary. At KS1, we focus on common words and phrases relating to the passing of time and on building a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. Our enquiry-based approach ensures children ask and answer questions and are supported to choose and use parts of stories to support their ideas.
At KS2, children develop their enquiry skills by regularly addressing historical questions, by building the knowledge to answer the question supported by a range of sources. This approach enables them to develop the appropriate use of historical terms and to construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information.
Independent Learners: Children use a range of historical sources to ask and answer questions about the past. Children can work independently to create their own structured accounts.
Collaborative Learning: The enquiry-led approach encourages children to work with others to use sources to find and record information about the past. Through discussions, children learn to respect and value the work and opinion of others. They work as part of a team to present their findings orally, in writing, through DT, ICT and role-play/drama.
Capital Culture: Through our history curriculum, children are able to celebrate the history, diversity and cultural wealth of the school’s wider community. Children are able to contribute to national historical events such as Remembrance Day and are also given the opportunity to learn about the heritage of their local area. Our local history topics are an integral part of the learning and these help to highlight the diversity of the wider community, whilst also instilling in every child a life-long love of history.
Enrichment: Our commitment to ensure all of our pupils reach their potential in history is supported by a number of enhancement activities including trips, visitors and use of artefact boxes.
Impact
At Aston by Sutton Primary School, our aim is for our history curriculum to develop independent thinkers, who are excited and inspired by the past.
By the end of Year 6, we want our children to be able to use a wide range of historical sources to ask and answer questions about the past and be able to understand the limitations of different types of resources so that our learners are prepared for the challenges of Key Stage 3.
Our curriculum enables children to develop a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. They will have had opportunities to draw comparisons with the achievements of the earliest civilizations, study the non-European society of The Maya, and the influence of Ancient Greece on the wider world.
Children will have an understanding and perspective about our locality and some of the challenges and achievements that have shaped the local area in which we live.
We measure the impact of our history curriculum through monitoring work, listening to the children’s attitudes about history through pupil voice, by taking learning walks and data analysis.
Respect – Inspire – Achieve
Through History all of our learners have the opportunity to reflect our Values of Respect – Inspire – Achieve by
Respect - We respect and celebrate diversity, different cultures and history. We respect the school’s wider community and the heritage of the local area. We treat artefacts both in and outside of school with respect and use them to enhance our learning. We respect other people’s opinions in discussions, that learning is a journey and we won't always get it right first time.
Inspire - We are inspired by key leaders in history, by changes/achievements that have impacted on our lives today, we inspire others by sharing our ideas and historical critical thinking with them, we take on challenges, ask questions and are positive about our learning.
Achieve - We push ourselves to achieve the very best that we can, we strive to achieve more over time and build on our knowledge through our key threads, society/culture and change, leaders and achievements.