Curriculum Statement for History
The teaching and learning of history allows children to explore their past as well as learn from this to make a better future for themselves and their peers. Our history curriculum will delve into rich and relevant learning opportunities which will focus on Britain’s past and the wider world around us.
We will enable our children to think like historians by:
- Asking questions and exploring different societies and cultures.
- Interpreting evidence and sources we have from the past to understand what this tells us.
- Understanding the impact on changes on people and place.
Our Pre-School and Reception children are expected to:
- Talk about the lives of people around them and in their roles in society.
- Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
- Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
Children will discuss and understand that they were once babies and how, over time, they have grown into young children. This is exploited further in everyday talk and play and by discussing events which happened yesterday or in the previous week.
The National Curriculum 2014 states programmes of study to be delivered in KS1 and KS2. We have tailored these programmes of study to suit our children within their local area, ensuring learning is relevant to them.
In Key Stage 1 children are taught about:
- Changes within living memory and changes in national life.
- Events beyond living memory that are nationally or globally significant.
- The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements, e.g. Beatrix Potter.
- Significant historical events, people and places in our own locality, e.g. Leyland trucks for History of transport.
In Key Stage 2 children are taught about:
- In relation to Britain; the Stone Age to the Iron Age, the Roman Empire, the Anglo Saxons and Scots, the Vikings and local studies on the Victorians relating to Fox Lane.
- Ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt and a non-European society, e.g. The Maya.
History offers plenty of enrichment opportunities. As a school, we purchase Lancashire’s Loan Service annually which provides children with artefacts and historical evidence for the children to handle and explore. We also organise visits to our local area to support their history learning further. This includes visits to Astley Hall and Fox Lane as well as inviting visitors in to provide worthwhile historical knowledge and experience, e.g. Bill Smith from the Great War workshop.
History supports strong connections with other subjects and we identify purposeful cross-curricular links to enhance learning and help children identify connections. In particular, history links well with art and geography, e.g. The Slave Trade topic links to patchwork quilt making to tell stories and the Stone Age links to the geography focus on rocks.
History is assessed by class teachers following a taught unit, each year group focuses on at least two history units per year. The teacher will ensure all objectives (both knowledge and skills based) are taught over the course of both units and an end of year assessment will also be gained. The History Subject Leader receives this information from class teachers, conducts pupil voice, carries out book looks and visits lessons to ascertain how history is being delivered. This helps to identify strengths and any areas for development for the subject which can be tackled appropriately.
Last reviewed January 2024.
