History lenses

Holly

“In the past life was different, but we can find out about this! We are Historians.” (Understanding the World lens)

Larch

“In the past life was different, but we can find out about the significant people and events. We are Historians.” (Significance lens)

Willow

“In the past life was different, but we know how to find out about the significant people and events. Some of the changes happened in our locality, and some people can remember the recent changes. We are Historians.” (Changes within living memory lens)

Ash

“In the past life was different, but we know how to find out about the significant people and events. Some of the changes happened in our locality, and some people can remember the recent changes. We can find out what happened before and after the changes. We are Historians.” (Continuity and Change lens)

Oak

“In the past life was different, but we know how to find out about the significant people and events. Some of the changes happened in our locality, and some people can remember the recent changes. We can find out what happened before and after the changes, and what caused these changes. We are Historians.” (Causal lens)

History

Intent

We want our children to leave the Belfry CEVA Primary School understanding that the past was different with significant people and significant events, some that happened locally, within living memory, but also much that is not. They will know what came before and after these events, and what the causes of these changes might be.

Pupils will know how to make links between these areas of learning, seeing patterns and disruptions, and become engaged, motivated and curious learners who can reflect on how historical events have echoes in similar events across geography and time.

Implementation

Our History curriculum has been carefully designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum states that ‘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.’

To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way: Understanding the World; Significance; Changes within Living Memory; Continuity and Change; Causes.

These are all mapped out to ensure that pupils build on secure prior knowledge. When covering each of these strands the content will be carefully organised for each class with content knowledge, vocabulary and skills to be assessed against. History is delivered through subject specific teaching but with meaningful links with other subjects where appropriate.

All learning will start by revisiting prior knowledge. This will be scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. Staff will model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow the children to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

Impact

History assessment is ongoing throughout the topic and summative assessment is completed at the end of each topic where history objectives have been covered. Pupils are assessed against the Learning Objectives, with pupils expected to be confident and able to talk about what they have learnt in history using subject specific vocabulary; are able to recall their learning over time.

Larch class acting out the story of Henry Blogg, Summer 1, 2021

Oak Class have been finding out about the creation of Rome and Roman Civilisation. They began by learning the story of Romulus and Remus.

This narrative depicting elements of Roman society and the expansion of the Roman Empire shows the structure their history lessons followed. The sequence of lessons involved revisiting previous learning before moving on to the next part of the narrative, allowing the children to build a clear, chronological knowledge of Roman history.

Towards the end of this topic, the children were able to use their knowledge to create first a fact file about the Romans and later an in depth fact file about the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. The children studied Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in English this term to help consolidate their understanding of the Roman Empire.

The final element of this topic is linked to geography as Oak Class explored the physical geography of Pompeii through a study of Vesuvius.