At Tree Tops Primary Academy, the history curriculum ensures that all pupils gain coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past, as well as that of the wider world, which helps stimulate pupils’ curiosity to know more about the world. Pupils are encouraged to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, examine arguments and develop perspective and judgement. Pupils develop historical skills and knowledge, enabling them to thrive in their curiosity by discovering and evaluating the past.
Pupils have opportunities to develop their understanding and compare 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 faced in the past and of their time.
Aims:
The National Curriculum for History aims to ensure that all pupils:
- 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.
- 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 over time.
- Gain knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods.
- The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
- The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
- The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
- Develop curiosity about the past and an understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways.
- A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support explanations and judgments.
Scheme of Learning:
Our PYP approach is underscored by the National Curriculum. The schemes allow for appropriate sequencing and aims to secure long-term memory as well as the enjoyment and necessary curiosity of learning history.
The key areas are concerned with building knowledge, developing understanding of the big ideas and processes of history, and the overall goal of history education: we want young people to gain an increasingly mature and informed historical perspective on their world. The areas are developed throughout KS1 and KS2 in order to efficiently prepare children for secondary education.
- The subject leader for History will meet the senior leadership team and representatives from the Trust on a regular basis to evaluate provision in order to ensure that teaching and learning in History is highly effective. Where necessary, staff will receive coaching and training in History.
- Carefully designed, interleaved learning in History ensures consistency and progress of all learners.
- The vehicles which drive learning throughout the term are the central idea and associated lines of inquiry. Therefore, History is taught through these vehicles.
- History plays a key role in the achievement of the learning aims of the vehicle. For example, pupils looking to exhibit work may decide to open a museum in their classroom; to enact this successfully, they may decide to visit a local museum or National Trust property to gain knowledge and understanding of the eras that they are working on. Pupils will also undertake a local History study with relevant experts being used in the teaching and learning process.
- Clearly defined end goals are set in order to guide children to achieve their potential. This ensures work is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum while still fulfilling the requirements of a PYP approach.
- High quality teaching responds to the needs of children. Spiral learning is a key focus of all formative and summative assessment with teachers actively responding to learning, understanding and work in lessons in order to identify misconceptions early.
- High quality input from experts and educational resources complement the delivery of specialist learning admirably. Children understand how History is used in the wider world including careers.
- Learning is adapted and tailored to meet the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, through adaptive teaching; including guidance from the EEF (Education Endowment foundation). Educators incorporate explicit instruction, cognitive and metacognitive strategies, scaffolding, flexible grouping and use of technology into daily classroom practice to ensure access for all.
- Children are happy learners who have a thorough grasp of historical knowledge. They experience a wide range of learning – delivered through local, national and international context – challenges within the subject and know appropriate responses to them.
- Through History, children deepen their appreciation of their faith and fulfil their academic potential.
- Visits within History have enriched the lives of the children and they are able to discuss how the experience impacted their knowledge and understanding.
- Children of all abilities and backgrounds achieve well in History reflected in outstanding progress that reveals a clear learning journey. Children talk enthusiastically about their learning in History and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education.
Fundamental British Values:
- Through wider reading in History, children will understand how events in History have influenced the modern world. Reading materials include horrible histories; BBC bitesize; Historical Association articles; BBC news along with a range of library books tailored to children’s reading ages.
- Children will understand how to decide the reliability of varied sources.
- Through this exposure, children will produce work that is influenced by the best of the best.
Each lesson will include live marking (as per the Marking and Feedback Policy). Homework is not formally set in history but knowledge activities (both written and abstract) are encouraged to enhance enrichment opportunities; these may take the form of (but not limited to) reading historical books, watching history programmes such as ‘Horrible Histories’ and visiting places of historical interest. High quality teaching responds to the needs of children. An assessment grid (the foundation skills assessment) is used to formally record an overview of progress of each child.
- Children will learn about key figures from history ranging from Athelstan to Mary Seacole.
- Meeting and talking to history specialists including secondary teachers.
- Visit at least one local and one national museum.
- Visit to a place of local historical interest including Leeds Castle.
- A cross-curricular understanding of key historical figures including examples such as Alfred the Great.