Intent
At Winterbourne Nursery and Infant school, we ensure that the History curriculum has clear principles and purpose. We aim for a high quality history curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. By linking to a range of topics, children will have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understand chronology and be able to communicate historically.
Children will be encouraged:
- To continue to develop their understanding of chronology, and through this develop a sense of identity and a cultural understanding based on their historical heritage.
- To continue to learn to value their own and other people’s cultures in modern, multicultural Britain including holding British values.
- To continue to learn to make their own life choices today by considering how people lived in the past.
- To continue to understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today.
- To investigate past events and by doing so, develop the skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem solving.
- To enjoy and love learning about history by gaining the knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.
Our History lessons support all children. Key Historical knowledge and skills are sequenced to gradually build up on children’s prior knowledge so that all pupils can get an early sense of success. The most fundamental concepts are broken down into smaller chunks for children with SEND.
Implementation
The History curriculum at Winterbourne Nursery and Infants School is taught in blocks throughout the year, so the children can achieve depth in their learning. The History curriculum identifies key knowledge and skills of each Historical area and sequenced them in a logical order to ensure children can build on their prior learning.
In EYFS, History is taught across the seven areas of learning of the EYFS framework to achieve Early Learning Goals at the end of the Foundation Stage. The most relevant Early Learning Goals for History are found in the Understanding the World learning area. The children learn to 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 present, understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and through verbal storytelling.
In KS1, the children start to learn about changes within living memory where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life,
events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally (for example, the Great Fire of London), the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievement (for example The Windrush generation and Queen Elizabeth II), some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods, significant historical events, people and places in their own locality. By the end of Year 2 children will have gained knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past, as well as the history of the wider world.
The History curriculum identifies key words that the children need to learn to develop their language. The key historical vocabulary is taught explicitly and is present throughout all teaching of history. In order for children to know more and remember more in each area of history studied, there is a structure to the lesson sequence whereby prior learning is always considered and opportunities for revision of facts and historical understanding are built into lessons.
History topics are introduced to the children through ‘Wow days’ at the beginning of the term. These days include dressing up as characters relevant to the topic, and being immersed in the learning through practical activities. This motivates and inspires the children and develops their interest. Children’s existing knowledge is checked as part of KWL activity (What I know, what I would like to know, what I have learned). This feeds into teaching as children’s starting point. Children are further encouraged to understand what History means through display boards, working walls with learning questions and key vocabulary on the wall which they can refer to.
The History provision is also well resourced to support effective teaching and learning. We use a mastery approach which includes all learners.
Impact
As children progress throughout the school, they develop a deep knowledge, an appreciation of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. They also develop awareness of their identity as a member of the diverse school community.
Children’s achievement in History is assessed through:
Summative assessment based on pupil discussion about their learning/termly data input
Book scrutiny
KWL grids
Learning walks and professional dialogue with teachers.
Discussions with pupils about their learning (pupil voice)
Discussions with teachers over half termly overview meetings