History

At Pakefield Primary School we aim to help children to build up a clear, chronological understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Through high quality lessons, children will be inspired to want to discover more about the past and will be helped to make connections between their own lives and past human experiences. Skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem solving will be developed, promoting curiosity and deepening learning. Our History curriculum is designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum

National Curriculum for History Aims

The National Curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:

• 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.
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

 National Curriculum Overview

How do we teach History?

History at Pakefield Primary School is taught through an enquiry based approach, which encourages the children to become ‘Historical Detectives. Teachers use Connected History scheme of learning to inform and support their planning. It is taught as a half termly topic, focusing on the knowledge and skills as stated in the National Curriculum. We encourage first hand experiences through handling artefacts, visits to relevant sites of historical interest and in school workshops. There are opportunities for cross-curricular links where children can apply their knowledge and understanding. Learning will be supported through the use of knowledge organisers, which will enable the children to retain new facts and vocabulary.

EYFS

The children will:

• Talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members.
• Know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.
• Talk about changes.
• Build on their understanding that lives were different in the past.

Key Stage 1

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

Pupils are taught about:

• Changes within living memory.
• Events beyond living memory that, are significant nationally or globally [for example, the Great Fire of London, the first aeroplane flight or events commemorated through festivals or anniversaries].
• The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, Mary Seacole and/or Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell].
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.
  
  

Key Stage 2

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

Pupils are taught about:

• Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
• The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain.
• Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots.
• The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor.
• A local history study.
• A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066.
• The achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China
• Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world.
• A non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300.

Progression of Skills for History

What do we want for our children? 

By the time, children at Pakefield Primary leave our school they will have developed a secure knowledge and understanding of significant people and events from historical periods covered. They will have taken into consideration a range of historical evidence and will have the ability to make strong and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgements. They will have acquired a passion for history learning and will have developed their sense of curiosity about the past, and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways.