History
Intent
Our aim at Goldfinch Primary School is to encourage pupils to inspire pupil’s curiosity and develop an understanding of the past by evaluating a range of primary and secondary sources. Our historians will also be able to explain how sources give us an insight about how people around the world used to live and how these interpretations may differ. Pupils will be taught to make links between these areas of learning, through historical concepts across the school. In KS1, children will be taught about events, peoples and changes, and are often introducing pupils to historical periods and era that they will learn about in KS2.
Our History curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum states that ‘a high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way. Chronological Understanding; Historical Understanding; Historical Enquiry; Interpretations of History; Organisation and Communication are all mapped out to ensure that pupils build on secure prior knowledge.
When covering these historical concepts, the content will be carefully organised by each year group through a long term plan. Content knowledge, vocabulary and skills will then be planned for at a greater level of detail in the medium term plan. History is delivered through subject specific teaching organised into blocks under a theme. Meaningful links with other subjects are made to strengthen connections and understanding for pupils.
The History units taught have been developed to help children appreciate their own identity and the challenges in their time. It will help them understand the process of change over time and significant developments.
Implementation
All learning will start by revisiting prior knowledge. This will be scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. Staff will model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.
Learning will be supported through the use of knowledge organisers that are sent out every half term to provide children with scaffolding that supports them to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long term memory. Knowledge organisers are used for pre-teaching, to support home learning and also as a part of daily review.
Consistent working walls in every classroom provide constant scaffolding for children. Retrieval quizzes have been introduced at the end of units to assess children’s progress. Learning is reviewed also on a termly basis, after a period of forgetting, so that teachers can check whether information has been retained. History assessment is ongoing throughout the relevant cross-curricular themes to inform teachers with their planning lesson activities and differentiation. Our historians will be given a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom where appropriate to create memorable learning opportunities and to further support and develop their understanding.
Impact
At Goldfinch, pupil voice shows that pupils are confident and able to talk about what they have learnt in history using subject specific vocabulary. Pupil voice also demonstrates that pupils enjoy history and are able to recall their learning over time. Working timelines in the class, show that children are aware of sequencing and chronological events of the past and can talk about the periods/eras studied. Pupils work demonstrates that history is taught at an age appropriate standard across each year group. Work is of good quality and demonstrates pupils are acquiring knowledge, skills and vocabulary in an appropriate sequence.
