History – Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent:

Through our History curriculum, we aim to expand our children’s historical vocabulary, knowledge, skills and understanding through an interesting and varied curriculum.

We will deliver a curriculum that:

• Provides intrigue about various historical events both worldwide and local, significant people and their time in history.
• Allows our children to build upon their prior learning.
• Provides subject specific language.
• Encourages our children to question through; asking perceptive questions; thinking critically; weighing up evidence and developing their own perspective and judgement.
• Enables our children to make links between historical time periods, events and current day.
• Inspires curiosity about the influences of the past looking at the process of change, diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups, both locally and worldwide.

Implementation:

We maintain strong links to the National Curriculum guidelines through individual topic and year group progression grids to ensure progression and coverage across KS1 and KS2.

The teaching and learning of the curriculum follows:

• A history progression of skills for each year group, that is organised into chronological knowledge, historical enquiry, historical interpretation and range and depth.
• An exciting theme with an ‘enquiry’ question to build vocabulary, knowledge, skills and interpretation.
• Where possible, the use of replica historical artefacts, visitors, workshops and external class visits to engage and motivate enquiry based learning.
• Opportunities for CPD for teachers to ensure their skills and knowledge are developed to teach confidently and accurately.

Outcomes of work are monitored using AfLto ensure that they reflect a secure understanding of the key identified knowledge.

History is assessed at the end of each historical topic, using each year’s specific end points, stating whether children are working towards, or exceeding age-related expectations. This is then used to make sure all children are continuing to make progress and any children whose levels drop, or increase can be addressed accordingly.

Impact:

• Standards and attainment are measured through a variety of ways: questioning during lesson time, adult marking of children’s written work, children’s view on how well they have understood and met the objective and child-led discussions.

• Children will be able to talk about the skills and knowledge they have acquired, using correct historical vocabulary.

• They will be engaged and inquisitive in History lessons and want to find out more, completing research independently through projects and homework, to further their own enjoyment about the subject or topic.

• Work will show that a range of knowledge, enquiry and interpretation is being covered, cross curricular links made where possible and differentiated work set as appropriate.

• The school environment will be history-rich through displays, resources, vocabulary, etc.

• Assessments and monitoring will show standards in History will be high and will match standards in other subject areas.
• Clear progression of skills across KS1 and KS2 that builds on prior knowledge and can be demonstrated in the children’s work.
• Continued training and support for teachers.