History
Intent
At St. Andrew’s we aim for a high quality History curriculum which will inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about Britain’s past and of the wider world. Our teaching equips pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world; with knowledge and understanding about significant aspects of the history of the wider world including ancient civilisations and empires; with changes in living memory and beyond living memory; with learning about the lives of significant people of the past; with understanding the methods of historical enquiry and being able to ask and answer questions. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.
Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a carefully-sequenced curriculum, focusing on knowledge and skills, that is progressive throughout the whole school.
The History curriculum at St. Andrew’s is based on the National Curriculum, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills taught in each Key Stage. Teachers plan lessons for their class using our unit plans, which detail the key knowledge that children should learn in that unit. The progression document ensures that the curriculum is covered and the skills/knowledge taught is progressive from year group to year group.
At St. Andrew’s we provide a variety of opportunities for history learning inside and outside the classroom. Educational visits are an opportunity for teachers to plan for additional history learning outside the classroom. At St. Andrew’s the children have many opportunities to experience history on educational visits. The children explore local museums and visitors come in to school to share history learning and provide hands-on experiences.
Impact
Our history curriculum is high quality, well thought out and planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and use of relevant vocabulary.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
- Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
- Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
- Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Moderation staff meetings where pupils’ books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
- Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
- Marking of written work in books.
The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at St. Andrew’s 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, which will encourage them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.