Intent
Our History curriculum is designed to support children to know and understand the history of Britain’s past and that of the wider world using a coherent, chronological narrative. They will know details from the earliest times to our present day. Our children will understand how people’s lives have shaped our nation and how Britain influenced and been influenced by the wider world. The children will understand significant aspects of history in the wider world by researching the nature of ancient civilisations, the expansion and dissolution of empires and the characteristic features of past non-European societies.
Methley Primary School children will develop skills which enable them to understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference. They will use their knowledge to make connections and draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically valid questions and create their own structured accounts. They will gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts between local, regional, national and international history.
We want 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 artefacts and educational visits. The intent is to develop a holistic knowledge of the subject by the end of KS2 in order to create a platform to build on at KS3. It is our intent for History to be learned inside and outside of the classroom. The learners will ‘think like a ‘historian’.
Motivation
We believe that History should be a fun, investigative and enquiring time where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. We encourage our children to be aspirational and as Historians advise them of potential jobs they could do in the future, such as, working for a Historical society, or looking after ancient artefacts in a museum or even becoming the next Indiana Jones, focusing on archaeology. This can be achieved by explaining the relevance of knowledge, skills and understanding to motivate themselves to become life-long learners.
Perseverance
We will encourage our children to answer historical questions about causation, change and significance by using and evaluating a variety of sources and by undertaking research of these key questions.
Success
We want all of our children to have a love of history and want to provide every opportunity to be successful historians. Our approach enables a progression in vocabulary, knowledge and skills allowing children to create a schema that they frequently return to.
Implementation
In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in History, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. History is taught as part of a theme focusing on the knowledge, skills and understanding stated in the National Curriculum. At Methley we ensure that History has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences by ensuring that all learning begins within the school’s locality which then expands to significant history of the United Kingdom and other civilisations in the world.
Impact
The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at Methley are equipped with 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. We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about History, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.
Helpful Documents
