History

At Houghton Conquest Primary School we aim to deliver a history curriculum that is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more. Our teaching of history will help pupils gain a secure knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. The curriculum is structured in a way that allows for children to make links between current and previous learning. We want children to be curious to know more about the past and to have the skills required to explore their own interests.

Intent – What we want to achieve:

• To develop in pupils an awareness of the past within a chronological framework.
• To investigate people and events.
• To develop an understanding of why things happened and how it influences our lives today.
• To engage in a wide range of enquiry using different media.
• To communicate their ideas based on research.

Implementation – We will:

• Plan progressive lessons through a thematic based curriculum which are rooted in the National Curriculum and Early Years foundation stag
• e curriculum and which are regularly reviewed and developed to ensure they motivate pupils; build on experience and previous study and expand a pupil’s knowledge and understanding of the past.
• Link learning to high quality literacy texts.
• Link learning in History to other areas of the curriculum to develop depth of understanding.
• Develop high quality resources that are tactile, IT based, written graphic and photographic.
• Allow children to handle sources and develop research skills.
• Provide multisensory activities and a wide variety of learning experiences to motivate deep learning, curiosity and investigation.
• Use visits, visitors and ‘experience days’ to make learning meaningful and to enhance depth of knowledge.
• Provide opportunities for pupils to work independently in pairs, in small groups and as a whole class inside and outside the classroom.
• Use precise tracking and assessment to move pupils’ learning forward.
• Develop their ability to evaluate their own and their peers’ work.
• Develop understanding of chronology, change and continuity.

Impact – The intended outcomes of the history curriculum:

By the end of the Foundation Stage most children will be able to:

• Find out about past and present events in their own lives, and in those of their families and other people they know.

By the end of KS1 most children will be able to:

• Show their developing sense of chronology by using terms concerned with the passing of time.
• Place events and objects in order on a simple time line.
• Be aware of how some lives were similar or dissimilar to others.
• Understand that their own lives are different from those of children in the past.
• Recognise that there are reasons why people in the past acted as they did.
• Begin to ask questions and know where to find the sources to answer these questions.
• Explore some local history.

By the end of Year 6 most children will be able to:

• Confidently place all studied periods, events, and societies within a coherent, chronological narrative of British, local, and world history, recognising how different eras overlap and connect over time.
• Demonstrate a deep knowledge and understanding of the main events, people, and significant turning points studied, noting how themes like power, empire, technology, and daily life changed or remained similar across different periods.
• Analyse complex reasons for, and the short- and long-term results of, major historical events, changes, and movements.
• Understand that our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of evidence, and explain how and why different versions or interpretations of history exist.
• Identify and evaluate a variety of primary and secondary sources to deduce information about the past, explicitly noting the reliability, viewpoint, and potential bias of the evidence.
• Refine their own historically valid questions to frame an enquiry, independently selecting appropriate lines of argument and evidence to construct structured, written, or oral responses.