Summary of Intent

At Casterton Primary Academy, History reflects our commitment to promote and encourage a lifelong love of learning.  We believe in ambition for all and for all children to achieve their best. We want our children to experience a broad and balanced curriculum, developing understanding of the past with relation to themselves, their families, their communities and the wider world.

The history curriculum has been developed to give our children an understanding of how the world we live in has been shaped by the past.  We want to give our children opportunities to develop life skills such as thinking, evaluating, analysing, empathizing and communicating; skills that are essential in adult life.

We want our children to be able to encounter a rich variety of experiences, develop a lifelong love of learning and to understand the broad range of opportunities that are available to them.

We aim for all our children to develop a love of history and to be inspired to know more and to become curious, interested and knowledgeable about the past. We try to develop an understanding of how and why people acted as they did, and the influence that this has on their own lives, developing an understanding of how their current actions will affect and shape the future, as the past has impacted on today.

What History looks like at Casterton Primary Academy

History is about real people who lived, and real events, which happened in the past. At Casterton Primary Academy, we encourage children to think about how people and events in the past have changed the world and influenced the way we live today. Through historical learning experiences, our children develop an understanding of their locality and local community, its place within history and they gain a coherent knowledge about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Children discover how people’s lives have shaped the nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.

Our teaching and learning should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. We teach children a sense of chronology and through this, they develop a sense of identity, and a cultural understanding based on their historical heritage within a social, political, cultural and economic background. History helps our pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups. It also develops understanding of the key concepts of significance, similarity and difference, continuity and change and cause and consequence.

At Casterton Primary Academy our aim is that all children:

• Gain an understanding of the past with relation to themselves, their families, their communities and the wider world.
• Develop awareness of the past and the ways in which it was different from the present, within a chronological framework.
• Take an interest in and develop their knowledge of their local environment and to develop their understanding of how people in their locality used to live.
• Develop a knowledge and understanding of History and to increase their awareness of the reasons for events and developments and their consequences.

• Develop enthusiasm for the study of History by providing a range of activities and access to a variety of high quality sources, including artefacts, books, ICT, visitors in school and visits out of school where appropriate.
• Develop their interest in the past, arousing their curiosity and motivation to learn
• Are provided with opportunities to recall, select and organise historical terms and information using a range of reference materials; enabling the periods and topics studied to be described accurately and appropriately.
• Increase and develop their historical skills, concepts, knowledge and attitudes.
• Increase their understanding of the present in the context of the past.

• Develop and use their skills in enquiry, analysis, evaluation, and argument.
• Develop a sense of identity through learning about the past.

In KS1 pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They should know 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 should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should 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 should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.

In KS2 Pupils should 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 should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

How History develops in EYFS and transitions into KS1

In the EYFS, it is crucial that students are presented with opportunities to explore history and culturally based concepts that have an immediate connection to their understanding of their environment and life experiences. This will support them to become accustomed to regularly interacting with these concepts when they move into Key Stage 1, and beyond into Key Stage 2, as here, students will begin to interact with local history in more standalone and distinguished lessons.

In EYFS, children are guided to make sense of their world and their community

through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.

They begin to develop historical knowledge by talking about similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

They will develop vocabulary linked to then and now and begin to understand chronology linked to themselves and their own activities.

They will learn about people from the past and read stories about them.

They will understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and during their storytelling. They will link learning to celebrations, themselves and their family.

Children transferring to KS1 will have a firm foundation of historical skills and vocabulary with a developing knowledge of the past, especially within their own lifetimes

Planning Expectations

Planning is linked to the school’s long-term curriculum plan and history is covered in 3 half terms throughout the year. There is a two-year programme of study. In KS1, this concentrates on units which are linked to the History Programme of Study, using units linked to within living memory, beyond living memory, lives of significant people, important events and local history.

In KS2, units should build upon each other, covering the history of Britain and the wider world so that new knowledge builds on previous teaching. This should give children a chronological grasp within their learning and should develop the key concepts.

• Planning should start with a ‘big question’. This enquiry question should be used at the start of the unit to help direct pupils thinking and their search for evidence.
• It should be key to all lessons and learning activities should lead to the children trying to revisit, review and debate this at the end of a unit.
• Lessons should be enquiry based, allowing opportunities to investigate and interpret the past.
• Each unit should use timelines and relevant chronology to help children to link their learning. These should be continually referred to. Children need to be aware of how their historical learning fits together.
• A secure chronological grasp of the events taught and a developing/increasing grasp of key concepts is key within each unit that is planned.
• Key concepts should be reinforced over the key stage and these should appear on each planned unit. They are: significance, similarity and difference, continuity and change and cause and consequence.
• Links should be made to locally relevant issues and to those which are relevant to the background of children within the school.
• Relevant vocabulary needs to be taught and included on planning. This should be topic specific and should also include other relevant historical terms.
• Each lesson needs to have a clear historical objective and that will inform your marking.
• Knowledge and skills should be included on medium term plans.
• The children should work on producing a knowledge organiser which they can take with them as they move through the school. This will include key dates, knowledge, relevant people and key vocabulary. This should be part of the lesson plenary.
• There should be time in each lesson to review prior learning, make links and consolidate knowledge.
• There should be opportunities to link learning to other curriculum areas.

Non-negotiables

• Written work should be placed in topic books and objectives must be linked to historical learning.
• The ‘Big Question’ needs to be placed at the beginning of each unit of work.
• Work needs to be marked against historical objectives.
• We need a knowledge organiser for each topic to show the story of the topic. It also helps to reinforce ‘sticky knowledge’ so that we can review ones from previous years to help with recall.
• Kahoots and quizzes should be used to assess knowledge.

Adapting the (subject) curriculum for children with SEND

Children with SEND access the same areas of the history curriculum as their peers:

• In some activities, pupils with SEND will be able to take part in the same way as their peers.
• In others, some modifications or adjustments will need to be made to include everyone.

For some activities, teachers may need to provide a parallel activity for pupils with SEND so that they can work towards the same lesson objectives as their peers but in a different way.

For example:

• for children with specific difficulties with reading, writing and mathematical skills, resources are adapted to overcome possible barriers to learning. Peer working or support staff may be used to assist pupils with different ways of recording and presenting their ideas and understanding such as scribing, annotating photographs or making short video or audio clips.
• Specific vocabulary may need to be taught prior to the lesson.
• a child with visual impairment may use texts that have been enlarged or produced in braille and diagrams that have been embossed. Where possible, real things will be used rather than pictures.

Children Who Require Different Objectives:

Some pupils with SEND will have to work on different activities or towards different objectives from their peers.

• Before teaching a new unit, teachers will always check that the children have the prior learning needed to undertake new learning.
• For pupils who are working significantly below year group expectations, teachers will identify the prior learning using the progression of knowledge in history. Class teachers select appropriate objectives and ways of working for individuals and design learning tasks to match these.
• Objectives selected will build on the prior learning of the child and will provide challenge to move the children’s learning forward.

Assessment

Children will be assessed at the end of each unit through teacher assessment. Teachers will assess the children in each lesson using the learning objective for that lesson.

Assessment is continuous and it is recorded against key statements for which pupils attain at, above or below the expectations for the year group on the MTP. These are then used to make the overall subject assessments that are put onto Target Tracker.

At Casterton Primary Academy we have three assessment points during the year. Autumn (Dec), Spring (March) Summer (June). However, teachers should update assessments for history at the end of a unit rather than wait until the end of term.

Curriculum Enrichment

All units will include enrichment activities.

• History is much more than just learning facts and dates; we encourage pupils to enjoy history and develop a natural curiosity about the past. With regular school trips, curriculum days and historical workshops, we want to bring the past to life!
• We also invite a range of visitors to the school, enriching learning through re-enactments or first-hand reports about life in the past.
• Artefacts are borrowed from the Museum Service and children are encouraged to use their families as an important resource.
• Involvement in community activities also provide valuable first hand experiences.