History
In history, guided by the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014 and supported by the Kapow Primary Scheme for History, it is our intent that our teaching will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We aim for our curriculum to ignite pupil’s curiosity about the past so that they ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop the confidence to make their own judgements.
At Salterhebble, we aim to support children in building their understanding of chronology in each year group making connections over periods of time in the Early Years and Key Stage 1. As children move into Key Stage 2, they will have chronologically secure knowledge of history.
Children are introduced to key substantive concepts including power, invasion, settlement and migration, empire, civilisation, religion, trade, achievements of humankind, society and culture.
Through the support of the Kapow Primary Scheme for History, we have identified key strands that are interwoven through all the history units and emphasised the importance of historical knowledge being shaped by disciplinary approaches. Throughout the units being taught children will develop their understanding of the following key disciplinary concepts:
- Chronology: The understanding of time and place throughout history.
- Historical Enquiry: Providing opportunities for children to develop their knowledge and understanding by carrying out investigations into a certain theme or aspect.
- Significance and Interpretation: Identifying what is important and why it is important, and that our understanding of the past comes from different sources.
- Continuity and Change: Identifying whether something has changed or stayed the same throughout history.
- Cause and Consequence: Identifying, examining and analysing the reasons why events have happened and the consequences of this.
- Similarity and Difference: Understanding the complexity of people's lives, differing perspectives and relationships between different groups.
- Sources and Evidence: Knowing that history is collected from various sources and can come in many different forms - letters, photographs, paintings etc.
So that our pupils are able to learn more and know more, we believe it is vital that our history curriculum develops both substantive and disciplinary concepts well. Our aim is to ensure that our pupils become historians who can confidently attain knowledge regardless of the subject or topic. In order to do this, we carefully plan our history lessons so that the above concepts are taught. These concepts ensure that children are able to unpick historical knowledge throughout their life. History is taught following a spiral curriculum where previous skills and knowledge are revisited and built upon to promote secure understanding of key historical concepts.
End Points
By the end of Reception, children will begin to compare past and present events in their own lives, those of their families and other people they know. They will understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
By the end of KS1, children will develop an awareness of the past and know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework. They will be able to make comparisons by identifying similarities and differences between life in different historical periods and recall some significant people from events beyond living memory.
By the end of KS2, children will have developed a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, noting connections, contrasts and trends over time. They will be able to use the appropriate historical vocabulary to describe change, cause and consequence, and similarity and difference when discussing significant historical periods, events or people and construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of historical information.