“Pupils have an understanding of significant events in Britain’s past and that of the wider world and how it has shaped the way we live today.”
At Barlby Bridge Community School, history is held in high regard. A high-quality history education helps pupils to gain a coherent 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. Teaching intends to equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps 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. The uniqueness of our locality (mining, industry, railways, floods) is celebrated and helps to drive aspects of our teaching and learning.
The main aspects of history to be taught are determined by the programmes of study in the National Curriculum 2014.
Continuity and Progression
History is taught in Reception as an integral part of the topic work through child-initiated and adult led activities. The children are given the opportunity to find out about past and present events in their own lives, and those of their families and other people they know. In the Foundation stage, history makes a significant contribution to developing a child’s understanding of the world through activities such as looking at pictures of famous people in history or discovering the meaning of new and old in relation to their own lives.
During Key Stage 1, pupils learn about people’s lives and lifestyles. They find out about significant men and women and events from the recent and more distant past in Britain and the wider world. They listen, and respond to stories use sources of information and artefacts to help them ask and answer questions. They learn how the past is different from the present.
The intent in lower KS2 is that children can work in chronological order exploring British history periods, from the stone age and then progress onto Romans, Saxons and Vikings. Upper KS2 allows children to explore a wider selection of ancient history such as the Maya Civilisation and ‘Egypt’ through to more modern history such as ‘World War II’ and ‘Leisure and Entertainment’.
During Key Stage 2 pupils learn about significant people, events and places from both recent and more distant past. They learn about change and continuity in their own area, in Britain and in other parts of the world. They use different sources of information to help them investigate the past both in depth and in overview, using dates and historical vocabulary to describe events, people and developments. They also learn that the past can be represented and interpreted in different ways.
Intent
At Barlby Bridge Community Primary School our history teaching offers opportunities to:
- To deliver a board and balanced history curriculum from the schools’ long term curriculum plan.
- To assess the effectiveness of teaching and learning standards by monitoring lessons and pupil’s work.
- To ensure that staff have a good subject knowledge and to provide any training necessary.
- Develop pupils’ enjoyment and curiosity in history and an appreciation of how the past shapes the present and the future.
- To develop knowledge of chronology within which the children can organise their understanding of the past.
- Introduce pupils to the language and vocabulary of history.
- Develop research and interpretation skills using a range of media and artefacts and to develop the range of skills required to interpret primary and secondary source materials.
- Begin to appreciate the social, political, economic, cultural and religious development of their society and of other societies in Europe and the world over time.
- 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.
- Support or provide a means of enriching other areas of the curriculum.
Implementation
At Barlby Bridge we implement a variety of teaching and learning styles which reinforce an expectation that all pupils are capable of achieving high standards in history. We aim to deliver lessons that foster a sense of enjoyment and curiosity about the past. Teaching and learning of history at Barlby Bridge includes:
- Planned content taken from the school’s long term curriculum is taught in blocks throughout the year, so that children achieve depth in their learning.
- Class teachers identify the key knowledge and skills of each topic and consider how to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group and across the school.
- The History Subject Leader is responsible for monitoring, identifying and meeting the needs of staff development. Teacher’s subject knowledge and understanding of history is gathered through: performance management, lesson drop-ins, pupil voice and the examination of pupils’ work.
- A hierarchy of subject specific vocabulary is delivered during lessons and drawn upon to help sequential learning during phases and across phases.
- Formative assessment is used to inform teaching, check understanding and to help learners embed knowledge into the long term memory.
- Teaching makes full use of resources within the immediate and wider local area enabling children to develop a deep understanding of the rich history of their locality.
- Cross curricular links are made, with strong links between history and English to foster further contextual learning.
Impact
- The impact of the history curriculum is monitored by the senior leadership team and the Subject Leader in a variety of ways: pupil’s work, pupil interviews, end of year teacher assessment, lesson drop-ins, classroom displays, performance management and staff discussions.
- At Barlby Bridge the history curriculum is shaped to ensure it is fully inclusive for every child; providing a board and balanced curriculum that encompasses British values throughout and sequential development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills.
- Pupils are able to review their learning and with encouragement and can identify personal targets. Comparatives are made with what pupils know at the start and end of every unit.
- There is an emphasis on analytical thinking and questioning which fosters a coherent understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.
- Pupils are able to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop judgements during classroom discussions.
- Pupil’s work books evidence a board and balanced history curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of knowledge and skills that are progressive across phases and throughout school.
- They are able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives and that the past can be represented and interpreted in different ways.
- By the end of year 6 pupils have a chronological understanding of British History from the Stone Age to the present day. Interlinked with this are studies of world history, such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Mayans.