History at Hill View Primary Academy
History or Geography adaptation guidance
History at Hill View is driven by curiosity; we promote children to think about the world around them, to spark curiosity and a sense of spirituality by thinking deeply about the world around them and the way in which past events have impacted on the Britain (and wider world) we know today.
History is taught through our integrated curriculum, where children explore History and apply their skills and knowledge in a broad range of ways. As they become historians-in-training, their whole curriculum is linked and/or themed around their learning to inspire them to become fully immersed in the topics we cover.
Principles and History Intent:
At Hill View, our aim in History is to developed children who aspire to learn from the experiences and actions of those who have lived before us and to understand how these peoples lives can impact on them in the 21st Century. This will involve developing a core knowledge relating to key characters, events and periods in both local and global history. These skills will allow the children to reflect on the experiences of these key figures and how this shapes their lives and experiences today; this will be done by considering the key knowledge areas of change and development, cause and effect and the significance and interpretation of events. This will be further developed by utilising skills such as constructing the past and sequencing events.
It is our underlying belief that every child should experience a broad and rich history curriculum, to experience success, allowing them to fully appreciate the study of the past and to be able to tell their personal stories. We will foster and enquiry based approach, allowing the children to ask and answer their own questions and to strive for excellence. As part of this, we believe that the children should trust the experiences they have, the knowledge they are developing and to be able to articulate this to the school and wider community.
Our History curriculum is based on the National Curriculum, and meets the needs of all children within our school regardless of their starting point and/or academic ability. It is designed to recognise children’s prior learning, provide first hand experiences, and celebrate excellence and unique talents within history. Our history curriculum teaches knowledge, concepts and skills whilst exposing the children to a wide and diverse range of historical periods, figures and events. It recognises that every child is an individual with a unique potential for learning.
History Whole-School Overview
History vocabulary & Key Knowledge
To enable all children access to our history curriculum, we have:
- A carefully structured curriculum, which contextualises the learning for the children,
- A process of utilising flashbacks to revisit prior learning and to address any misconceptions,
- Well considered educational visits, in different year groups, to allow the children to experience historical locations and activities,
- Considered curriculum adaptations, that allow children to achieve from their individual starting points.
Entitlement and Enrichment
As part of our History curriculum offer, children will explore and celebrate their historical knowledge through exciting and creative opportunities such as:
- Trips and other immersive experiences relayed to their learning. For example, a visit to the SeaCity Museum in Year 2 linked to their learning on the sinking of the Titanic and a visit to Butser Farm in Year exploring life in the Stone Age to Iron Age eras.
- Creative home-learning tasks which allow children to apply their knowledge of history to creative tasks, such as creating their own Roman shields in Year 4.
- Weaving their knowledge of History into their writing projects as part of our Integrated Curriculum which gives children the opportunity to show their learning through non-chronological reports, fact files, letter writing and creative writing tasks.
Insert photographs of trips and other immersive learning activities
Breadth and Balance / Progression of Skills
As children progress through the History curriculum here at Hill View, links will be made between the knowledge (substantive knowledge) and skills (disciplinary knowledge) that they cover. Children will be encouraged to recall what they have previously learnt through explicit retrieval tasks at the beginning of each lesson, and to make links where relevant (most especially in KS2 where a sense of chronology of British History begins to be more explicit).
Our curriculum overview clearly maps this out for our staff, in order to ensure our children are delivered a curriculum with delivers cumulative knowledge of British History.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
In the EYFS, History is included within the Understanding the World area of learning. In Foundation, your child will mainly learn about history through stories and discussions aided by play. This will be done by reading stories about figures from the past, drawing and talking about their own life, discussing changes over time and identifying the difference between the past and now.
Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) and Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6)
The content of History teaching and learning is set out in the 2014 National Curriculum for primary schools in England. In KS1, children are introduced to History looking at significant people and events in British History, which aim to inspire them to become curious about events in the past and begin to develop an understanding of key Historical skills (such as chronology and cause and consequence) and key themes (such as society, what this looked like in the past and the way this has changed over time).
Teaching Narrative
As historians-in-training, our children learn to be curious about the past and the way this has impacted the world around them. They are taught and encouraged to think deeply about the world around them and to pose questions to deepen their understanding. The children enjoy an engaging, integrated curriculum but with academic rigour which focuses on children knowing and remembering more, in order for them to build upon their previous knowledge to make links and deepen their understanding of different time periods in Britain and across the world.
Our curriculum has been developed by experienced, qualified teachers over several years, and this is constantly being tweaked, developed and built upon to provide excellent provision. Children enjoy History and have a positive attitude to the subject, which makes teaching and learning in History great at Hill View.
Assessment and Outcomes –
Our children’s Historical knowledge and skills is continuously assessed. Teachers’ formative assessment comes through professional observation of class and peer discussions and written work in books, supported by teacher-student dialogue and children’s submission of home learning projects. Alongside this, teachers’ summative assessment is guided through the use end-of-unit opportunities for children to ‘make their learning visible’, where they are asked to represent their learning using words and pictures at the end of their learning. In short, teachers use a holistic approach to assessment to help determine where a child’s understanding is.
Resources –
Useful websites for children to explore History at home:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/history/zfmj92p