History Curriculum Statement 

Through our Christian Faith, we acknowledge our responsibility to all, to enrich lives and show love and respect within our school family.

We believe in lifelong learning aiming to equip our children to live life today and for tomorrow rooted in Christian love.

For with God nothing shall be impossible with God (Luke 1:37) 

Mission:

Our school is the church on the hill; the light that brings Jesus into the lives of all in our community.

Upon this rock I will build my church (Matthew 16:18)

Intent:

Our History curriculum has been designed to ensure each and every child has the Historical skills to understand Britain’s past and the world. History is their past and their future, they need historical knowledge so they can inform actions and consequences in the future. The need coherent knowledge of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

In school, we focus not only on key Historical knowledge and skills, but also how children perceive the events that led up to the modern day. We equip them with the skills to ask perceptive questions, think critically, find evidence, identify arguments and develop good judgement as well as developing appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum.

We aim for a history curriculum that helps our children to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups. We aim to excite the children to develop an understanding of their own place in history and their past. Learning experiences are through individual and collaborative work using a creative and hands on approach to develop a knowledge of chronology within which children and young people can organise their understanding of the past.

We are a Christian school and use our Christian virtues to ask questions to expand our learning about our faith and its part in our history, to help promote our understanding of Christianity and also appreciate the rich diversity of our cultural and historical heritage.

Ultimately our History curriculum is intended to:

• Develop our head and body: What we learn.
• Develop our hearts and character: Who we are and our faith in God.
• Develop our actions and attitudes: how we help others and act on ,and learn from, past decisions locally, nationally and globally.
• Develop our moral compass: How we understand our identity personally, locally, nationally and globally.

Implement:

Through quality teaching of knowledge, skills and vocabulary in History we aim to ensure that all pupils:

• have a sense of time – with a coherent, chronological understanding
• understand cause and consequence
• know there is continuity and change in history
• can interpret history in a variety of ways
• Understand history in context
• Appreciate diversity including the nature of the British Isles

Within History, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry based learning opportunities. All children will be challenged to be inquisitive, compassionate and empathetic. They will have opportunities to influence their own learning through age appropriate and progressive themes and topics.

Early Years Pupils will be taught:

• about memories of their lives the ‘then’ and ‘now’ and what ‘the past’ means.  
• to remember special events, routines or customs for their family.
• differences between different family members or different generations.
• that we can look for clues about what the past used to be like.

Key stage 1 Pupils will be taught:

• about changes within living memory
• significant events beyond living memory
• about the lives of significant individuals in the past
• significant historical events, people and places in and around Mellor

Key Stage 2 Pupils will be taught:

• changes in Britain from the Stone Age to Iron Age
• the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain.
• Britain’s settlement by Anglo- Saxons and Scots.
• The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England
• An aspect of local history
• A theme in British history after 1066
• About the achievements of early civilizations
• How the Ancient Greeks influenced the western world
• About a Non-European society that contrasts with Britain’s history

Impact:

History allows our children to interlink the challenges of the present with those of the past and in doing so immerse themselves within the knowledge of time. Powerful knowledge of History through interesting and interactive lessons ensures children are given the opportunity to become more confident, creative, resilient and critical thinkers. With these skills children will be able to analyse, explain and understand the past, whilst also developing transferable skills helping them to become well rounded individuals.

As pupils progress, we want our History curriculum to fire pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Children will be encouraged to develop a chronological understanding of British history that will enable them to make sense of the new knowledge they acquire and the process of change helps them to see how we arrived ‘here’ and helps them to make sense of the present. We will create a History Curriculum that helps our children to think critically, question and challenge sources, opinions and information. We aim to encourage enquiry, inference, the ability to use high-order vocabulary, questioning, curiosity and communication

By the end of each key stage, pupils will know, apply and understand the Historical knowledge and skills specified in the National Curriculum for History.

Our children will have a confident set of historical skills and knowledge, supported by Christian values which can be used to help them to make sense of the past and how it has influenced the present and the future they will live in. We strive for all of our children and young people to know what it means to be an historian – immersed in and inspired by history – with transferable skills and a sound progression of knowledge and sequenced understanding of key concepts that are transferable, as they progress into high school so they can flourish, be their best and have fun.

National Curriculum Overview

Purpose of study

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Aims

The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed History – key stages 1 and 2
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Useful Websites For History Activities