HISTORY

"We are not makers of history.  We are made by history."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

History curriculum intent 

At Lawn Primary School, our history curriculum aims to promote a love of learning and inspire pupils to be curious and creative thinkers who will develop a chronological awareness of local, national and global history. As a subject, history encourages pupils to develop critical thinking skills, ask questions, analyse historical evidence and debate and argue different viewpoints. These are key skills needed, both academically and in everyday life.

Our history curriculum links closely to our school ethos of “Knowledge, Aspiration, Adventure and Smiles”, whereby the children have a chance to complete hands-on activities, take part in historical trips and events, have arguments and debates based on evidence, ask questions, learn about inspirational, historical figures, develop their knowledge and enjoy the process!

The National Curriculum states that children should develop a coherent knowledge of Britain’s past, and that of the wider world. Through our history curriculum, we want to build children’s awareness of significant events, inventions and individuals in global, national and local history and for children to recognise how this fits into their life today. History helps children to appreciate the complexity of people’s lives, the diversities of societies and relationships between different groups and cultures. In turn, this can help children develop empathy and understanding for others, and help children to appreciate mankind’s mistakes, and how civilisations and societies have progressed and moved on from this.

"The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future."

-Theodore Roosevelt 

History curriculum implementation

At Lawn Primary School, we follow the Kapow scheme of work for history. Our scheme of work follows the spiral curriculum model, whereby previous skills and knowledge are revisited and built upon. This scheme was chosen as it emphasises the importance of gaining historical knowledge through substantive knowledge and disciplinary concepts. Substantive knowledge is about knowing historical facts, information and terminology, whilst the disciplinary strands focus on putting knowledge into practice, through debating, researching, evaluating, interpreting and so on. These strands are woven through to create engaging and enriching learning experiences so the children have a chance to investigate and develop knowledge as a historian would.

 Lessons are designed to be hands-on and engaging, to foster curiosity and engagement. Our history curriculum follows the National Curriculum programme of study and topics are taught termly, with the opportunity for tasks to be adapted to support and challenge pupils.

Each of the units of work also focus on chronology to allow children to explore the place in time of the period they are studying. The Kapow interactive timeline supports children in developing chronological awareness. Over the course of our history curriculum, children develop an understanding of the following key disciplinary concepts:

• Change and continuity
• Cause and consequence
• Similarities and differences
• Historical significance
• Historical interpretations
• Sources of evidence (for example, using secondary sources)

These concepts will be encountered in different contexts, for example, during the study of local, British and world history. Our scheme of work aims to help children develop their own historical skill set, develop perspective and judgement skills, create their own historical enquiries and develop an understanding of abstract themes and events.

"Memories of our lives, of our works, our deeds, will continue in others."

-Rosa Parks

History curriculum impact

The impact of our history curriculum can be continuously monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each of our history lessons contains guidance to support our teachers in assessing pupils against the learning objectives. Each unit of work also has an end of assessment quiz, to assess children’s understanding and knowledge. We aim for children to become enquiring learners who can ask questions and know where to find the answers, such as through secondary sources, previously learnt knowledge and research.

Our history curriculum also aims to ensure that every child can leave Lawn Primary School equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in secondary education. These skills include critical and analytical thinking, inference and deduction skills, all of which are key skills needed to make an informed and balanced judgement, both as a historian and in everyday life.

Discussions are had by our Subject Leader and Class Teachers about the progress of the children; the impact of the learning objectives and our childrens’ understanding. This process is then continued through Pupil Voice from the children to triangulate what is being taught - is what can be retrieved. Our knowledge of the children we teach allows us to ensure an expectation for each child’s ability. We recognise that all children progress at different rates and their responses will differ accordingly.

Finally, we have examples of the childrens’ WOW Work on show on the website to demonstrate some of the outstanding and aspirational goals that we set for some of the highest achievers. It is a platform - much like a professional gallery is for an artist - that allows us to celebrate successes in each year group, while setting aspiration goals for next year.