History Policy and Curriculum Rationale
Whole school planning, including progression of:
- disciplinary skills
- substantive knowledge,
- vocabulary,
- abstract themes and concepts.
History is about real people who lived, and real events which happened in the past. History is concerned with sequence, time and chronology and is the study of evidence about the past; it gives us a sense of identity, set within our social, political, cultural and economic relationships. History fires the children's curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world and plays an essential part in preparing us for living and working in the contemporary world. Pupils consider how the past influences the present, what past societies were like, how these societies organised their politics, and what beliefs and cultures influenced people's actions.
As they do this, children develop a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people. They see the diversity of human experience, and understand more about themselves as individuals and members of society. What they learn can influence their decisions about personal choices, attitudes and values.
In History, children find evidence, weigh it up and reach their own conclusions. To do this they need to be able to research, sift through evidence, and argue for their point of view - skills that are prized in adult life. Our History curriculum is planned and delivered in a cross-curricular thematic way.
Teaching creatively through history means treating history first and foremost as an active process of enquiry by children. It involves the use of the creative imagination grounded in evidence. As teachers we:
- set up open-ended and wide-ranging investigations
- use art work to enthuse and explore
- stimulate children to think actively and constructively, putting together different sources of evidence to construct a picture of the past
- challenge children with mysteries to solve
- asks children to pose questions, to form hypotheses, then to test these against the evidence
- encourage discussion and debate
- engage pupils' imaginations through storytelling, simulations and drama
- look at how history has shaped our lives, including finding out about significant people from our locality eg Nellie Spindler in Year 2.
British Values
As with all areas of the curriculum, in History we have a focus on British Values. The History programme of study enables children to understand that Britain’s rich cultural heritage can be further enriched by the multi-cultural British society of today. Within History lessons, children work collaboratively with others and use equipment and resources in and around school respectfully. Further to this, History topics may lead to field trips where we always act sensibly and politely around the local community and members of the public.
History & Citizenship
History contributes significantly to the teaching of spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. Children develop self-confidence by having opportunities to explain their views on a number of social questions such as how society should respond to poverty and homelessness. They learn how society is made up of people from different cultures and start to develop tolerance and respect for others. Pupils are encouraged to value the wonder in the past and recognise how significant people and early civilisations helped to shape our lives today.
Through our curriculum we lead children to understand why people act as they do, and to appreciate and respect those who lived in the different countries of the past. As such, History makes a crucial contribution to citizenship education, in that it can help pupils to understand and respect our common humanity and diversity, and can provide the conceptual means to make sense of their lives. History can help to develop thoughtful, principled and confident citizens ready for the future. Specifically, the History curriculum can result in children developing a sense of:
- identity - through developing knowledge and understanding of self and others and their place in the community
- security - through understanding change over time
- tolerance - through a respect for, and acceptance of, difference
- discrimination/judgement - through developing a critical attitude to opinion and a respect for evidence.
Cultural Capital & Educational Visits Plan
Home learning
You can support your child in history by:
- Talking to children about any local significant events that will become local history e.g. Tour De Yorkshire and the events of cooling towers in Ferrybridge.
- Giving children the opportunity to experience local events that will become history.
- Talking to children about any history that you can remember.
- Carrying out shared research with your child and sharing an interest.
- Sharing geographical knowledge and skills when travelling around e.g. discussing land marks, using maps and compasses, discussing where places are, the countries that make up Great Britain and where our capital city is located and what it is called.
- Discuss any significant national news and events and compare this with our country if possible.
Try the following links with your child:
https://www.teachwire.net/news/home-learning-activity-celebrate-florence-nightingales-200th-birthday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg9z64RIpiM
file:///C:/Users/ctonks/Downloads/ActivityHousesfromStoneAgetoIronAge.pdf
https://www.history.org.uk/primary/module/8747/resource-sharing-hub-key-stage-2/9838/local-history
History Displays Around School
History Themed Educational Visits and Cross-curricular Work