Intent

Our intent is to create a love and interest for History.  We aim to help our children to gain the knowledge, skills and understanding and become life-long historians. We want to instil a thirst for knowledge about the past and understand how events have shaped the world we live in today. Our varied History curriculum embraces topics which inspire children to be curious about the past and have the confidence to question and challenge different viewpoints based on Historical evidence. We also aim to give children an understanding of local history, as we live in an area where this is so rich, such as being so close to Hadrian’s Wall and Carlisle Castle, with its fascinating history.

Implementation

We provide a broad and balanced curriculum.  Our History topics have been carefully planned to ensure progression of key learning, knowledge and skills. Chronology is a vital skill in history and classes have timelines displayed for children to understand when historical events or periods happened in relation to topics they have previously learned about, as well as participating in activities during lessons which develop their chronological understanding.

We encourage children to reflect on the rich history of our local area as well as British and World History. Children are given opportunities to visit key historical sites and museums in the local area, as well as specialist visitors who are invited in to school to provide important experiences as well as understanding of the historical event or period being studied.

Staff have collaborated to ensure that the long-term planning includes meaningful links, building on prior knowledge from the previous class.

The National Curriculum for History ensures that all pupils:

• Develop an awareness of people, events and Historical periods.
• Are able to critically think about History by exploring Historical sources.
• Be able to challenge, evaluate and understand Historical evidence and develop their Historical enquiry.
• Have a passion for History and be curious about the past and how people can have different viewpoints and interpret events in different ways.
• To gain an understanding of Historical concepts and vocabulary.

Impact 

Teachers use our progression documents to assess skills, knowledge and understanding in History which link to our long-term curriculum planning and the key people and events in history being studied at that point.  Staff use this to inform future planning and to ensure that skills and knowledge are embedded in children’s long-term memory.

Children’s learning is monitored by termly book scrutiny by the History co-ordinator in which constructive feedback is given to staff for future planning.  History is also monitored through learning walks and drop-in observations.

We aim that the impact of history teaching at Kirkbampton CE Primary School develops children’s enquiring mind, understanding of chronology and a love of history.

At Kirkbampton CE Primary School, we view History as a great deal more than learning facts. We see it as an opportunity to develop skills of enquiry and questioning; to become open-minded “historical detectives” and explore the past in an exciting way. We aim to provide first-hand experiences with role play, class visits, workshops and the use of artefacts and sources playing an important part in all our topics.

History is taught through our cross-curricular topics. The past comes to life when children use a variety of sources of information to find clues and evidence and take part in discussions with their peers. Through History, children learn to make comparisons and links between the past and modern times and discover how and why things have changed. They learn about people and events in the past, in our local area, Britain and the wider world, and realise that these have influenced our lives today. Children are taught how to investigate and record their findings in interesting and creative ways including writing, art, drama and ICT.