History

History Curriculum Overview

Yr Group	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Year 3-4 A		Anglo Saxons & Scots			Early Civilisations - Ancient Egypt	Stone Age - to Iron Age
Year 3-4 B		Roman Empire		Ancient Greece	Local History Study
Year 5-6 A		British History - The Monarchy		Non-European Society - The Mayans	History Beyond 1066 - The Victorians
Year 5-6 B		WW2			The Vikings	Diversity in History

History Curriculum Rationale:
History is being curious about the past to better understand the present. At light Years, we want to give our children the skills to be able to explore, question and analyse the past and recognise the impact it has had on the world today. We want to give our children not only the opportunity to learn about history but to think and act like historians.

‘History immerses pupils in unfamiliar worlds, and in the diversity and commonality of human experience across time and place…. Every pupil is entitled to encounters with the richness of the past and the complexity of historical enquiry.’ – Ofsted Research Review series: History 2021

Light Years School believes that pupils should:

Be able to think critically about history.
Have the opportunity to explore the past through hands on experiences and real artefacts.
Be confident to share, discuss and debate what they discover.
Develop curiosity about who they are and where they came from.
Recognize the impact of History on the world the live in today.

The History policy is designed to be inclusive and consider pupil’s needs as outlined in their EHCP. Learning takes place through a range of hand on activities using a range of skills and is adapted to suit the current needs of the children. Where appropriate, enrichment activities will be used alongside the curriculum to enhance pupil’s experiences and learning. This will be linked to the topic and could include trips, external companies coming into school and engagement in collaborative projects.

History Curriculum Intent:
Pupils will:

Develop a passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and how it impacts the present.
Develop a sense of chronology.
Develop knowledge of significant events in British History and an appreciation of how societies and people have changed over time.
Develop an understanding of historical concepts such as cause/consequence, continuity and change.
Show a respect for historical evidence and the ability to make use of it to support explanations and judgments.
Gain perspective between local and international history encompassing all areas of history such as political and religious.
Develop the ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past.
Be able to communicate ideas confidently in a variety of styles appropriate to a range of audiences.

History Curriculum Implementation:

History will be taught once a week for a minimum of half of every term.
Children will explore, investigate and evaluate different periods in history from early settlers to living memory.
Children will explore and compare history from the local area, from Great Britain and from other civilisations across the world.
Children will learn through engagement with real life artefacts and experiences that allow them to immerse themselves in the period they are learning about.
Children’s learning will be accumulative as they move up the school and they will be able to place historical periods on a timeline against others they have learnt about previously.
All children will be exposed to high quality texts and stories which will help to provide pupils with strong foundational knowledge that can empower and equip them with the skills to question and challenge the world around them.
Guided, independent and retrieval practice, are used, where appropriate, to ensure children remember the key substantive knowledge and use it in other contexts.
Key vocabulary will be identified in each topic. Pupils will have opportunities to read, write and use key vocabulary and subject terminology.
Planning will ensure that disciplinary skills (working like a historian) are discretely taught through engaging activities before being applied to produce a final outcome.
Final outcomes will be varied across the topics to give pupils the opportunity to evaluate, display and communicate their findings in different ways.

History Curriculum Impact:
The impact of science success in our school is measured by the following:

Pupils of all abilities will be able to engage in history lessons.
Pupils will show excitement and curiosity about the past and explain how it has shaped our present.
Pupils will use disciplinary skills (working historically) to explore, enquire, find, collate and evaluate historical evidence.
Pupils will show progress in both substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills in line with their attainment levels and learning needs.
Pupils will be inspired by key historical figures and events and how they have impacted our world.
Pupils will communicate their findings in a variety of ways taking into consideration the intended audience.
Pupils will be able to say where in time one historic period in relation to others they have learnt about.
Pupils will use the correct vocabulary in context to explain their learning.

Subject Policy