Our History Co-ordinator is Mrs Webb

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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.

History Implementation

History is one of the main ‘drivers’ of our curriculum and offers a rich cross curricular approach to the delivery of each unit. At Arundale we employ approaches that help our pupils to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of History at each stage of their learning, so that by the end of every school year or Key Stage, pupils will have the opportunity to acquire mastery of the historical facts and concepts they’ve been exposed to, equipping them to move on confidently and securely to more advanced material. 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. At Arundale Primary, History teaching (along with other foundation subjects) helps form our termly topics which create our creative and cross curricular approach to learning. We aim to offer a high-quality History education that will enables pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We strive to inspire pupils’ curiosity to discover more about the past. Lessons are designed to equip pupils with the skills to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement. This can be achieved through encouraging children to think as a Historian, placing emphasis on looking at primary sources and examining artefacts. We understand the importance of historical stories and how they can stimulate further interest and enthusiasm when learning about the past. We know that historical events can be interpreted in different ways and children should be encouraged to ask questions allowing a deeper level of knowledge and understanding. We encourage visitors and educational trips to sites of historical significance to add a real-life context to their studies. The history curriculum is an integral part of Understanding the World and forms a key part of many Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) topics.

Additional opportunities: Our children are also encouraged to mark historical dates/events that significantly affected the local area, such as Remembrance Day, take part in assemblies, trip and invite visitors into school.

SEND Special educational needs and disability (SEND):

At Arundale Primary, we teach History to all children, whatever their ability. History forms part of our desire to provide a broad and balanced education to all children and we appreciate that children can have strengths and weaknesses in different areas of the curriculum. For some children writing down what they know can be a great challenge, but when asked can recall even the finest of details. Additional support/resources are in place to aid these children, for example talk tins, recording equipment, and scribes. For other children the concept of chronology can be difficult to comprehend, the difference between ‘a long time ago’ and ‘a long, long time ago’ is merely an additional word. These children will have additional support/resources as well as the opportunity to frequently recap their learning. Topics or events that children may find distressing will be discussing with parents beforehand to decide upon the best course of action for the child’s social, emotional, mental health (SEMH).

History Impact

History will stimulate the children’s enthusiasm and curiosity about the past. Teachers assess children’s knowledge and understanding of history in many ways. This could be through classroom discussions and debates, recollection of key information and reflection upon key events. Teachers will also assess a child’s use of technical vocabulary and understanding of chronology, organising British history and World history, Kings and Queens or events within their lifetime. Teachers will track their children once a term and make their assessments. All of these aspects above will inform the teacher’s judgement deciding whether a child is below, working at or working above age expectations.