History Subject Leader: Mrs T Handley
History helps our pupils to appreciate the complexity and diversity of human societies and development. Pupils are given the opportunity to look back at human experiences across time and place, to fully understand their place in the world; exploring rights and wrongs, morals and ethics.
Intent
At Sedley’s C of E Primary School we study history to ensure that the curriculum is wider, enriched and filled for the pupils at school, and allows them to have a deep appreciation for the past and how it impacts us today. We aim to inspire our children through studying key times in history in fun, creative ways. Our history teaching encourages investigative thinking, curiosity, reasoning, and the asking of questions. History allows the children at this school to learn about their local and wider world surroundings and it will ensure children develop a strong understanding of chronology.
Implementation
Our History teaching features key themes throughout: Significant figures, Chronology, Sources and Lifestyle. These feature in our learning from Early Years to Year 6 and allow for revision and revisiting, thus making effective links. Each History area of learning is presented within the chronology of time, which allows pupils to develop an ongoing overall picture of events.
Children develop their history knowledge and application of learning through creative, hands on activity, helping to bring events to life and commit learning to long term memory. Many trips, visitors and enrichment activities are linked with History and secure pupils’ learning further, including those with additional needs or those requiring a higher level of challenge.
Impact
Children are able to make comparisons between then and now, and demonstrate an excited curiosity about aspects of the past. Children respond positively to their learning in history and regular assessment demonstrates a keen enthusiasm for the subject. Our pupils develop a deeper understanding of how the past has influenced the present.
History in Each Stage
In the Early Years History is addressed within the Understanding the World Early Learning Goal.
Understanding the World ELG: Past and Present
Children at the expected level of development will:
- Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society;
- Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;
- Understand the past through settings, characters, and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
Continuous provision in the Early Years provides ongoing opportunities for pupils to explore creative activities in their own way.
Children in Key Stage One will be taught to use a range of time related phrases, and will recount experiences from their own personal history. They will be taught to identify similarities and differences between then and now in a variety of areas, and will learn to ask questions and make observations. They will be able to ask such things as ‘What was it like?…’ and ‘Why did that happen?’. They will develop their historical understanding through variety of means eg drawing, writing, drama as well as on site and off site opportunities.
Key Stage Two children will develop their use and understanding of timelines, increasing their accuracy of dates and significant times in history. They will be given the opportunity to look at different versions of events and will use a variety of sources to investigate. Our history teaching focuses heavily on children being taught to recognise the impact of a time in the past on life today.
History Progression
SEND Information
SEND and disadvantaged children are given the required support within history lessons to access all national curriculum objectives.
History Extra Resources
For remote learning, please visit our remote learning page or contact our Head of History for more information.
Further History Help