Subject Leader - Miss Whitehouse

Link Governor - All Governors

History Curriculum Documents

History Policy

History Curriculum Overview

History Progression Map

Intent
 

We aim to provide every child at The Priory Primary School with an extensive and engaging History curriculum that inspires each individual to develop a real passion for historical understanding and inquiry. We recognise that supporting our children to foster a strong sense of curiosity must lie at the heart of everything we deliver within our History curriculum, and so they are provided with a range of sources, artefacts, and real-life experiences, such as educational visits and visitors, to encourage their inquisitiveness and the accuracy of their historical inquiry.

Chronological awareness is also at the forefront of our History curriculum to ensure that our children are able to make meaningful links between past events and to encourage children to recognise the impact of history on the modern world. We strive to ensure that our children recognise the importance of history on a local, national, and international scale by providing a diverse curriculum with strong links to our local area. Furthermore, it is our aim that through historical learning children will become accountable citizens, understanding their role in protecting their world and environment; and knowing how they can cause positive change and development as they grow.

Curriculum Drivers

Cultural Heritage:

• We have ensured that our History curriculum provides children with a knowledge of their own history, as well as exposing them to the wider history of the world and ancient civilisations.
• Through a broad and ambitious curriculum, we aim to make our children curious learners who are excited by the opportunity to learn more about the world around them.
• Through our local history topics in Year 2 and Year 5, we focus on the role the Black Country played in the Industrial Revolution and on the life of a slave in the Black Country.
• Where possible, we make links to local History in all topics. Links to not only the History of the local area but also the historical impact of the local community on significant worldwide events.

Aspirations:

• Our history content and topics are planned around the ideology that all of our pupils will be able to engage with history, and therefore conversations around history, throughout their lives. 
• We enrich all curriculum areas, including history, by introducing our children to different career options linked to subjects, such as archaeologists and museum curators.
• Throughout our history curriculum, we look at a range of historical figures such as Grace O’Malley, Florence Nightingale, and George Africanus to inspire our children to recognise what is possible if they passionately believe in a cause.
• We aim to inspire our children to leave primary school with a love of history and a desire to want to study it at secondary school and at university.

Awe and Wonder:

• Pupils should enjoy what they are learning and topics should foster curiosity, giving the opportunity for children to ask meaningful questions.
• High-quality resources are created and used within each topic area to inspire children.
• Artefact boxes are provided for each subject, meaning that our pupils get to explore different cultures and time periods through hands-on experience.

Experiential learning:

• We firmly believe in the power that meaningful ‘real life experiences’ can have upon children’s retention and enjoyment of learning.
• We aim to provide each child with opportunities to engage in the locality and beyond through experiences both on and off the school site.
• We have high-quality trips and experiences mapped out prior to the start of each academic year, ensuring that every child gets the opportunity to experience history outside the classroom.
• Through these experiences, we aim to give children the skills and independence needed to engage in conversations and further education about History throughout their lives. 

Language and oracy:

• Vocabulary is a huge part of our History curriculum based on the needs of our pupils. Throughout all Key Stages and topics, key vocabulary is chosen and the morphology of words discussed widely to ensure that pupils have the knowledge to grasp new concepts based on prior learning.
• To further encourage the use of higher-order vocabulary, our curriculum provides an opportunity for rich dialogue through Philosophy for Children (P4C), helping children to engage with traditions of historical inquiry.
• To support our children with engaging in conversations around History, each exercise book has a ‘talk like a historian’ sheet at the front, which gives sentence stems and key vocabulary.
• Storytelling is used to introduce new themes and ideas to help our children retain information and be excited about history. Where possible, links are made to books studied in English to further enrich children’s vocabulary and understanding. Book lists are shared with parents to encourage wider reading at home.
• Children are given the opportunity to apply their understanding of historical vocabulary with a ‘define’, ‘retrieve’, and ‘infer’ starter within each unit of work. Chosen extracts directly link with the vocabulary and topic being studied.