History

Welcome to our History page!  Mrs Gammon-McGee is our History leader at St Theresa's.  Below is the Intent Statement for History followed by the progression map.  Details of when and where the History units are taught are on the long term curriculum map.

Intent

At St. Theresa’s, we shape our history curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive to every child.  Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for history by delivering a broad and balanced curriculum, which is carefully planned and structured to ensure that meaningful links with other subjects are made and that the rich history of our local and surrounding areas are both studied and celebrated.  This approach allows for the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills.  We aim to encourage children to develop a curiosity, appreciation and understanding of history. 

 As the children journey through school, they will study a range of significant people, periods and events that occurred in Britain and throughout the wider world.   The children will use a range of primary and secondary sources, they will be able to explain how these sources give us an insight about how people around the world used to live and how these interpretations may differ.  Learning will present opportunities for children to make connections, draw contrasts and frame historically valid questions.  The children will begin to understand:

• the complexity of people’s lives
• the process of change and how that has affected life today
• diversity of societies and relationships between different groups as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Overall, we want the children to develop awareness and empathy.

Implementation

History at St. Theresa’s is taught throughout the year, so that children achieve depth in their learning.  Leaders and teachers have identified the areas of history that will be taught within each year group.  A whole school coverage plan has been created which includes a key line of enquiry question.  Staff have been equipped with a Progression of Skills document, highlighting the key skills for each year group that shows how skills are built upon and developed as the children move through the key stages.  Year group staff use these documents as a support tool when developing their medium-term plans.

 By the end of Year 6, children will:

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed

 Learning will be supported using Knowledge Organisers that provide children with scaffolding that supports them to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long-term memory.  Knowledge organisers are used for pre-teaching and as part of a daily review. 

 Cross-curricular outcomes in history are specifically planned for, with strong links between the history curriculum and English lessons enabling further contextual learning.  Staff explore the local area to ensure its wealth of history is utilised to achieve desired outcomes and opportunities for off-site learning is embedded in practice.  Within our knowledge-rich approach, there is a strong emphasis on people and the community of our local area.

Early Years follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, which aims for all children to have an ‘Understanding of the world; people and communities, the world and technology’ by the end of the Reception year.

Consistent learning walls in every classroom provide constant scaffolding for children.  Subject-specific vocabulary is displayed on the learning wall along with key facts and questions, and model exemplars of the work being taught.

Impact

Through high quality teaching of history across school, we will see the impact of the subject in different ways:

• Pupil voice – children will be able to talk about the skills and knowledge they have acquired.
• Engagement – children will be engaged in lessons, raise questions and want to find out more.
• Independent research – children will complete research independently through projects and homework and to further their own enjoyment about the topic.
• Books – work will show that a range of topics are being covered, cross curricular links are made where possible and differentiated work set as appropriate.
• School environment – the school will be history rich through display, resources and vocabulary.
• Assessment and Monitoring – teacher assessments and subject leaders monitoring will show standards in history will be high and are in line with standards in other subject areas.

Black History Month

During the month of October, we celebrated black history.  It is important that our children have the opportunity to learn about and celebrate the significant contributions black people have made to our freedoms, our culture and our society. 

Each year group studied a significant person from our past or present day:

YR: Music and Culture (embedded in areas of provision)

Y1: Rosa Parks

Y2: Mae Jemison

Y3: Pablo Franque

Y4: Arthur Wharton & Marcus Rashford

Y5: Harriet Tubman

Y6: Martin Luther King

In class, they looked at their key person as an individual, their beliefs and the powerful work they did to not only improve their own life but the lives of many others.  The children completed a range of cross-curricular activities which portray what they learnt and how they are inspired by these amazing people.

As a school, we came together for a Celebration Assembly, where representatives from all year groups shared examples of their work and key facts they had learnt throughout the month.  It was a fabulous morning, the children spoke clearly and passionately about their learning.

At the end of our Celebration Assembly, we shared this powerful song/video with the children.