"Remember your history, your long and rich history" Isaiah 46:9

At Rowsley C of E Primary School, we aim to teach a high quality, ambitious History curriculum that encourages pupils to gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world. We aim to inspire pupils' curiosity to know more about the past, and how this may differ from the present. We encourage our children to ask perceptive questions about the past, analyse evidence, think critically, appreciate different perspectives and develop informed judgements.

We aim to inspire children to enjoy History by teaching them about a wide range of historical events and people. We aim to inspire children to become courageous advocates in their own right and thus understanding society and their place in it is a key aspect of the history curriculum. We aim to develop children's skills of enquiry, investigation, analysis, evaluation and presentation. It is important for children to gain a sense of chronology. Children are taught this as early as Reception as they are taught through key areas of the Development Matters document, such as 'Understanding the World’.

Intent

History at Rowsley C of E Primary School aims to ensure that our children will leave school with a secure understanding of the chronology of British history and that of the wider world. Through different historical topics such as the Greeks, Romans, WW2 etc, our children learn how historical strands such as settlements, trade, leadership, invention, empires and invasion, religion and childhood have developed and shaped our modern world.  Through our topics, we aim to provide interesting and exciting historical experiences, which promote historical thinking; developing an appreciation of the past and ensuring children become analytic thinkers by evaluating a range of primary and secondary sources. A question-focused approach will encourage our children to ask questions, weigh evidence, scrutinise arguments and develop their own judgement of historical periods. Our curriculum has been carefully planned and structured so there is a clear progression of knowledge, skills and understanding. Our curriculum will allow our children to become curious learners, developing a deep understanding of the historical concepts taught and they will be able to build upon their prior knowledge

Implementation

A topics based approach has been implemented to ensure history is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on the knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. Carefully planned topics ensure there is a progression of historical skills and knowledge across the school with teachers planning engaging lessons that follow our progression of knowledge and skills document. Our children’s journey as historical thinkers starts in EYFS where children begin to think about special events in their own lives. As our children progress through KS1 and KS2 they build upon these foundations and are able to ask meaningful questions, think critically, understand chronology and gain historical perspective by making connections between the topics that they have learnt. We engage and enhance our children’s opportunities through educational visits and visitors as these play a key role in helping children to understand history in the context of real life.

Impact

By the end of their primary education at Rowsley C of E Primary school, our children are able to articulate and demonstrate that they have developed the historical knowledge, language and skills to help them understand the history of the United Kingdom and the wider world. Our children demonstrate a good understanding of human attitudes and experiences, historical enquiry, and are able to make links between historical events and the world in which they now live. Children’s knowledge and skills develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to build on a deeper understanding to prepare them to become competent historians

If you have any questions about history, please email me: c.lindley@peaktorfederation.co.uk

Links to useful websites:

• History National Curriculum

Haddon Hall Trip  As part of the infant topic 'The Golden Age of Piracy', the children took a trip on the bus to Haddon Hall. They have been learning about The Golden Age and the Elizabethan period. Here they have a guided tour and dressed up too!

 Timeline Progression

Time Periods in History Progression

Infants - Fossil Finding

Infants - Becoming Dino Experts