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HISTORY

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“We are not makers of history. History makes us.” Martin Luther King Jnr.
 
“The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.” Maya Angelou.
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Our Vision

As a loving community, our vision is to nurture each individual in our care, giving them the skills, resilience and hope to succeed and flourish, both academically and spiritually, in God’s ever changing world.

Intent

At Selattyn CE Primary, we believe that the teaching of History gives pupils an understanding of human achievements and experiences; this learning of the past is vital to young children as they begin to understand their present and subsequently visualise their future. Our history curriculum aims to inspire pupils to be curious and creative thinkers who develop a complex knowledge of local and national history and the history of the wider world. We want pupils to develop the confidence to think critically, ask questions, and be able to explain and analyse historical evidence. Through our history curriculum we aim to build an awareness of significant events and individuals in global, British and local history and recognise how things have changed over time.

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In 2023/24, Selattyn CE Primary has embraced the beginnings of a revision to our History Curriculum. We have based our scheme on the Kapow History scheme because we feel it has a strong focus on developing the historical skills and knowledge required by the National Curriculum. In addition, we use other resources and are including bespoke units to enhance the children’s learning of local history.

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We believe that History will support children to appreciate the complexity of people’s lives, the diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups. Studying History allows children to appreciate the many reasons why people may behave in the way they do, supporting children to develop empathy for others while providing an opportunity to learn from mankind’s past mistakes. All of these qualities are fundamental to the healthy growth of individuals and represent values that we want the children of Selattyn CE Primary to acquire on their journey through our school. 

We aim to support pupils in building their understanding of chronology in each year group, making connections over periods of time and developing a chronologically secure knowledge of History. We hope to develop pupils’ understanding of how historians study the past and construct accounts and the skills to carry out their own historical enquiries.

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At Selattyn CE Primary, our environment makes an important and valued contribution to our lives every day; it is therefore imperative that our history curriculum enables our pupils to learn about and celebrate the historical richness of our local area within our lessons. We include the study of local history and use our locality to enhance the children’s awareness of the relationship between history and geography and their relevance to their lives.

  

In order to prepare pupils for their future learning in history, our scheme aims to introduce them to key substantive concepts including power, invasion, settlement and migration, empire, civilisation, religion, trade, achievements of humankind, society and culture.

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Implementation

The Kapow scheme is written by experts in their field. It is designed to give pupils every opportunity to meet the National curriculum end of key stage attainment targets. The aims for each unit align with those in the national curriculum. In response to the Ofsted Research review into History, the following key strands are represented thus:  

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Each unit has a focus on chronology to allow children to explore the place in time of the period they are studying and make comparisons in other parts of the world. 

Over the course of their learning, children develop their understanding of the following key disciplinary concepts:  

  • Change and continuity.  

  • Cause and consequence.  

  • Similarities and differences.  

  • Historical significance.  

  • Historical interpretations.  

  • Sources of evidence.  
     

These concepts will be encountered in different contexts during the study of local, British and world history. Accordingly, children will have varied opportunities to learn how historians use these skills to analyse the past and make judgements. They will develop and use their own historical skill set with increasing confidence. As children progress through the school, they will create their own historical enquiries to study using sources and the skills they have developed.  

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Substantive concepts such as power, trade, invasion and settlement, are introduced in Key stage 1, clearly identified in Lower key stage 2 and revisited in Upper key stage 2 (see Progression of skills and knowledge) allowing knowledge of these key concepts to grow. These concepts are returned to in different contexts, meaning that pupils begin to develop an understanding of these abstract themes which are crucial to their future learning in History.  

The spiral curriculum model is arranged to support teaching in mixed age classes. The content and the sequencing of topics and themes ensures that our curriculum offers the prospect of long-term learning for all children. Revisits are planned for with increasing complexity; knowledge is thus embedded over time, and children have opportunities to revisit and deepen their understanding. 

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We use a rolling programme to ensure that our children cover all aspects of the history curriculum within the mixed age class structure of our school. We alternate between history and geography on a half-termly basis. Therefore, three units of each are taught during the year.

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EARLY YEARS:

The two EYFS units provide a solid foundation of historical skills, knowledge and enquiry for pupils to work towards the ‘Understanding the world, past and present’ Development matters statements and Early learning goals. Pupils are taught in a variety of ways through adult-led and supported tasks and child-initiated learning in provision areas. Practitioners take into account the Characteristics of Effective Learning when they are planning, leading or supporting learning. Children explore the concept of history by reflecting on key experiences from their own past, helping them understand that they each have their own histories. Then, they engage in activities to compare and contrast characters from stories, including historical figures, deepening their understanding of how individual lives fit into broader historical narratives. The EYFS curriculum has been designed to cover foundational knowledge that will support them in their further historical learning in KS1 and KS2.

 

Regular observations and assessments of learning take place throughout the year and contribute to a summative assessment at the end of EYFS.

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KEY STAGE 1 AND 2:

Children further develop their awareness of the past in Key stage 1 and learn where people and events fit chronologically. This will support children in building a ‘mental timeline’ they can refer to throughout their learning in Key stage 2 and identifying connections, contrasts and trends over time. We use the Kapow Primary timeline to support children in developing this chronological awareness.

Units are organised around an enquiry-based question and children are encouraged to follow the enquiry cycle (Question, Investigate, Interpret, Evaluate and conclude, Communicate) when answering historical questions. 

We are developing our use of Knowledge Organisers to support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge and vocabulary.

Observational assessments take place during the geography lessons and at the end of the unit. The assessments contribute to a summative judgement at the end of the year.

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Impact

By using an enquiry-led approach, children are involved in dialogue about their learning. They take part in regular discussions and are thus able to develop their ability to talk confidently about their own learning journey, improve their metacognitive skills and have a growing ownership of their understanding.

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Monitoring Progress: In addition to formative and summative assessment, the subject lead carries out lesson monitoring, book scrutiny, pupil voice, learning walks, and collaborates with a link governor. Teacher discussions around good practice and improvement, and involvement with local consortium schools, develop teaching. In addition, Cluster moderation validates judgements on standards and progress.

After the implementation of Kapow Primary history, pupils should leave Selattyn Primary school equipped with a range of skills and knowledge to enable them to study history with confidence at Key stage 3 and beyond. They will be enquiring learners who ask questions and can make suggestions about where to find the evidence to answer the question. They will be critical and analytical thinkers who are able to make informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past.  

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The expected impact of following the Kapow history scheme of work is that children will:  

  • Know and understand the history of Britain, how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.  

  • Develop an understanding of the history of the wider world, including ancient civilisations, empires, non-European societies and the achievements of mankind.  

  • Develop a historically-grounded understanding of substantive concepts - power, invasion, settlement and migration, civilisation, religion, trade, achievements of mankind and society.  Form historical arguments based on cause and effect, consequence, continuity and change, similarity and differences.  

  • Have an appreciation for significant individuals, inventions and events that impact our world both in history and from the present day.  

  • Understand how historians learn about the past and construct accounts.  

  • Ask historically-valid questions through an enquiry-based approach to learning to create structured accounts.  

  • Explain how and why interpretations of the past have been constructed using evidence. Make connections between historical concepts and timescales.  

  • Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for history. 

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