HISTORY

Intent
At North Tawton Primary School, it is our intent that the history element of our curriculum will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and inspire pupils’ curiosity about the world around them.
As our pupils progress, they will become equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, use subject specific vocabulary, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement. We want pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. We aim to deliver the curriculum in a hands on way engaging way, making use of experience days, trips, artefact handling and making the most of our diverse local heritage sites.
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Aims
The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils

• know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts: understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales

Implementation
At North Tawton Primary School, we implement a progressive History curriculum which builds on prior knowledge and skills year on year. Pupils will revisit historical skills and knowledge in order to embed and deepen understanding, and at the start of each unit, they have an opportunity to show what they already know in an elicitation task. At the beginning of each new history topic, teachers refer to classroom timelines to develop children’s understanding of chronology. Each topic is introduced with reference to the chronology of previous topics (including those from previous years). Consideration is given to how the wide range of abilities will be catered for within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported as part of the school’s commitment to inclusion. Cross-curricular links are woven into a unit, providing pupils with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge in other subjects. At the end of a unit, pupils complete an end of unit quiz in order to show case their understanding. 

Impact
The impact of our History curriculum is that our pupils demonstrate a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world, in addition to being curious to know more about the past. By the end of year 6, children have a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. They are able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives. Interlinked with this are studies of world history, such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Egyptians. In their studies in History, pupils ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. They are equipped with historical and analytical skills for life as an adult in the wider world and are ready for the secondary curriculum.

OUR CURRICULUM

• ​Our Curriculum
• Our Approach
• English
• Mathematics
• Science
• Art and Design
• Computing
• Design and Technology
• Geography
• History
• Modern Foreign Languages
• Music
• PSHE
• Physical Education
• Religious Education
• Sex and Relationships Education
• Collective Worship
• Special Educational Needs
• Assessment and Reporting

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HISTORY	AUTUMN 2020	SPRING 2021	SUMMER 2021
YEAR 1	Local History	Brunel	Grace O'Malley
YEAR 2	Remembrance	Great Fire of London	Explorers
YEAR 3	Local History	Stone Age to Iron age	Ancient Greece
YEAR 4	Romans	Anglo Saxons	Egypt
YEAR 5	Elizabethans	Books & Numbers	Maya
YEAR 6	WWI	Education	Comparing Ancient Civilisations

 

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hISTORY CURRICULUM PROGRESSION