History
Learning Journey
3 i Statement
Intent
The principle aim of Wynstream’s History curriculum is to equip children with the cultural capital and historical skills and knowledge they require to succeed in the next phase of their education and beyond. Wynstream’s History curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum, while inspiring pupils’ curiosity to know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Knowledge of Britain’s past can help pupils to understand the challenges of our own time. It engages pupils in questions about people and events in the past, helping pupils to understand the present and preparing them for the future.
Implementation
Our implementation approach is based on the most current cognitive research. A variety of memory retention strategies are routinely used to support the transference of information from working to long term memory.
In the EYFS (Understanding the World – Past and Present), children build on their emerging knowledge and understanding of growth and change in their own life story to explore crucial early historical skills. Children learn to observe and articulate their own life story and family histories engaging with a variety of resources and activities including their own ‘All About Me’ bag. They observe changes in routines in the world around them, such as different times of the day and seasons of the year. Class books documenting the seasons are created so children can talk about changes in what they do, wear, celebrate throughout the year. Visits in the local area, to sites of historical importance, such as the park, museum, hospital and library enable children to have ‘practical/hands on’ experiences while comparing the past to the present day. Again, stories, such as Dogger, The Toymaker and The Whale’s Song are shared to deepen their understanding of the past.
Local walks and images of the local area in the past support children in talking about similarities and differences between past and present. Children learn how their own school building has changed, and parents and grandparents share their own experiences of being at the school.
Both Key Stages engage in local history by exploring our locality. In KS1, children will look at the history of our school and our neighbourhood. In KS2, children will look at local history through the lens of a building in the city. They will study its architecture, method of construction, daily life and important events in the time of the building’s construction and compare and contrast its original purpose and its current use. This is a cross curricular project which links with our DT and Geography curriculum.
By the end of KS1, children will know where the people and events they have studied will fit in a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They study lives of significant individuals or events that are beyond living memory and will be able to ask and answer questions using a variety of historical terms, choosing parts of stories and other sources to support their answers.
The History curriculum in Key Stage Two is organised chronologically. In KS2, through a chronological and coherent narrative, children focus on the impact of invaders have added to, or moulded our society and culture. Our British Empire unit in Y6, ends this narrative and encourages children to reflect on our island’s history; they also use this as an analytical and comparative study of other ancient civilisations.
Ancient History is studied chronologically through KS2. Children learn how history is constructed through a range of sources and gain disciplinary knowledge, culminating in a yearly exhibition of artefacts with a “catalogue” clearly stating where their object was found and how it has contributed to our knowledge of their ancient civilisation.
Impact
The primary aim of our History curriculum is to inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Knowledge of Britain’s past can help pupils to understand the challenges of our own time. At Wynstream, we use a variety of strategies to measure the extent to which we are effectively implementing our curriculum. Pupil voice, however, is at the core of ongoing formative and summative assessment. Rates of progress and attainment are primarily judged based on a pupil’s ability to articulate their learning both orally and in written form. Pupil voice is routinely monitored by subject leads and children are assessed based on their ability to successfully engage with the key assessment questions at the heart of every unit of learning.
