History
History Intent
At Weeke Primary School, our children are historians, researchers and teachers. Our intention is to provide opportunities and to create a passion for making connections between time periods and to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. We want to bring the past alive through an engaging study of cultures and societies so that children learn a sense of chronology, and through this a sense of identity and an understanding based on their own cultural heritage. We encourage an Objective, Reflective, Analytical approach which develops an open mindedness when considering the actions and decisions of people from the past and to celebrate differences which are positive and constructive.
To meet the needs of all our children we coherently plan differentiation in our history curriculum. We aim to use a diverse range of materials to engage and maximise our pupils’ talents; artefacts, art, eye witness accounts, fiction and photographs.
At Weeke Primary School every child is entitled to a history curriculum that is adapted to their individual needs and allows them to be successful.
History Implementation
History gives us an understanding of who we are, and where we came from. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for History, equipping pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. We ensure the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills through careful planning, and aim to inspire in all our pupils a curiosity and fascination about the Britain’s past and that of the wider world, including ancient civilisations and empires; In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.
In KS1, pupils are introduced to learning about changes in living memory and beyond living memory, by learning about the lives of significant people of the past, understand the methods of historical enquiry and beginning to ask and answer questions about the past.
In Lower KS2, pupils learn about the history of Britain from the Stone Age to the Norman Conquest, creating a timeline into and around which a wider range of topics such as Ancient Greece and WWII are placed in Upper KS2.
History is taught as a half-termly or termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum, to build an in-depth knowledge about a particular period in history, or understand how an aspect of life has changed through time. The History topics frequently form a cross-curricular approach to teaching; support and engaging our pupils with work in many other subjects, including English, Art and Design Technology. In this way, children are able to gain a richer and deeper understanding of each particular period in time.
We aim for our children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining this knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of educational visits. This approach equips our pupils with the historical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.
History Blueprint
Our History blueprint gives a pictorial and descriptive representation of the implementation of our curriculum. Further detailed information on the prpgression of knowledge, skills and understanding is shared in the Porogression Overview.
History in Early Years at Weeke
History Impact
At Weeke Primary, the impact of quality first teaching in History fosters a love and enthusiasm for the subject. Pupil voice provides evidence that pupils are able to talk with confidence and enthusiasm about what they have learnt in History using subject specific vocabulary. Pupil voice also demonstrates that many pupils enjoy History and are able to recall their learning over time. Book scrutiny demonstrates that History is taught at an age appropriate standard across each year group with opportunities planned in for pupils working at greater depth. Work is of good quality and demonstrates pupils are acquiring knowledge, skills and vocabulary in an appropriate sequence. Assessment and book scrutiny ensure pupils can demonstrate knowledge and understanding, use key vocabulary and are covering all skills in the progression of skills tracker.
Furthermore, our plan is to ensure:
- Pupils will become increasingly critical and analytical within their thinking, developing some of the skills required in KS3. Making informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past.
- Pupils will become increasingly aware of how historical events have shaped the world that they currently live in.
- They will also have a further understanding of History on a local level and on a small-scale.
- Pupils will develop enquiry skills to pursue their own interests within a topic and further questioning.
- Where applicable, pupils will have encountered or participated in high-quality visits/visitors to further appreciate the impact of History.
- Pupils will retain prior-learning and explicitly make connections between what they have previously learned and what they are currently learning.
What next for our pupils?
A proportion of our children in Year 6 go on to our local secondary school - Henry Beaufort. We work closely with our secondary schools to support the best possible transition not only for the whole children but to ensure their successful curriculum journey continues. This includes curriculum opportunties where we visit the school or we have specialist teachers come to teach our children key knowledge, skills and understanding.
To gain a further understanding of the next step in our children's learning journey please visit Henry Beauforts curriculum pages. Here you will see how the Primary curriculum at Weeke enables the children to continue to make progress in given subjects.