History
Intent
In History, the intent of our curriculum is to foster children’s understanding of how the past has developed the current world we live in. This is linked closely to some of our Christian values of peace with others, compassion for others, justice for all, and letting our light shine. We want our children to think like historians developing skills of chronology, thinking critically, weighing evidence, understanding significant aspects of the wider world, using historical vocabulary and to be able to develop perspective and judgement.
The aims of the History Curriculum follow that of the National Curriculum, ensuring children have secure understanding of not only substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge but also chronological knowledge. High expectations are set for all learners regardless of their background or attainment level.
Implementation
The History Curriculum is designed so that taught knowledge and skills are built upon each week, term and year, with strong links to our local community such as Warrington being a Roman town, Lovely Lane and near buildings relating back to the Victorians, museums including Warrington Museum and Liverpool World Museum, the importance of the River Mersey and Warrington having a war time airbase. This helps our children to know more, remember more and do more. To aid children’s retention of knowledge and skills we use knowledge organisers, low stakes retrieval quizzes as well as ongoing formative assessment and feedback. Our children are proactive in each Historical lesson, identifying how their previous learning supports the understanding of new concepts and children have the opportunity to regularly identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods, and to reflect on how changes over time have had an impact on the present. Concepts are further strengthened and developed through the use of relevant high quality texts, the teaching of subject specific vocabulary to help children explain their understanding. Furthermore, the children’s cultural capital is nurtured through building their understanding of significant people and how the history they are learning, links to the current world we live in. Children participate in enrichment activities to further enhance their historical learning such as taking part in project work or educational visits: Jorvik trip to York, researching the Vikings; World Museum to research the Egyptians and the Stone age; and visits to Warrington Museum to learn about Warrington through time.
Impact
Children are an active part of assessing their own learning, through regular feedback in lessons and through post learning quizzes. At the end of each unit, teachers assess children’s progress against the objectives of the National Curriculum for core knowledge and historical skills, using a rigorous assessment tool. These assessments build an accurate picture of each child’s overall historical progress as they move from year group to year group, to ensure they are ready for the next stage of their learning. Children will apply their learning to understand Britain’s past and that of the wider world; to build their curiosity, enabling them to become a Historian of the future.
If you would like any further information about our curriculum, please contact the school office.