Intent

The aim of History teaching at Percy Main Primary is to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding of the life of people who lived in the past, we teach children a sense of chronology in order for them to develop a sense of identity based on their historical heritage, this in turn gives children a sense of identity and cultural understanding based on their historical heritage.

Aims:

• To instil in the children a curiosity and understanding of events, places and people in a variety of times and environments.
• To develop an interest in the past and an appreciation of human achievements and aspirations
• To understand the values of our society.
• To learn about the major issues and events in the history of our own country and of the world and how these events may have influenced one another.
• To develop knowledge of chronology within which the children can organise their understanding of the past.
• To understand how the past was different from the present and that people of other times and places may have had different values and attitudes from ours.
• To understand the nature of evidence by emphasising the process of enquiry and by developing the range of skills required to interpret primary and secondary source materials.
• To distinguish between historical facts and the interpretation of those facts.
• To understand that events have a multiplicity of causes and that historical explanation is provisional, debatable and sometimes controversial.

Implementation

The National Curriculum requirements and content are the starting point for teaching History Percy Main Primary School.  Objectives are obtained from the Focus on Assessment document from Focus Education.

• History is planned and arranged in topic blocks by the subject leader, in collaboration with the class teacher, to ensure a topic-based and cross curricular approach. This is to enable the achievement of a greater depth of knowledge and a clear progression of knowledge and skills.
• With the new whole school long term plan staff build upon the knowledge and skill development of the previous years.
• First-hand experiences should be at the heart of work in History. These experiences can be varied and might include working outside the classroom, visits to sites of historical interest and using and handling objects, photographs and other sources of evidence and information.

Foundation Stage

History is taught from Rainbows through to Reception within the specific area of “Understanding the World”. The children are supported in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding that helps them to make sense of the world. The pupils are encouraged to talk about their families and past and present events in their lives. They begin to gain knowledge and understanding of the world through: Photographs/artefacts, listening to stories and memories of older people, role play activities, discussing events in the past and their own personal lives and sequencing events to gain a sense of time.

Key Stage 1

Pupils will be taught about the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They will learn where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They will be taught a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. Children will ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They will study some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.

Pupils will be taught about:

• Changes within living memory
• Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally
• The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality

Key Stage 2

Pupils will continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They will note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They will regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. Children will construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information.

They will understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources. Pupils should be taught about:

• Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
• The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
• Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
• The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
• A local history study
• A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066
• The achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study.
• Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world

The Penguins

Children in The Penguins will access a two year rolling curriculum to ensure all outcomes for they key stage are met within the two year cycle. In the academic year 2020/2021 outcomes from year two and four will be covered and following year outcomes from year one and three will be covered.