History

Intent

At St Joseph's our aim is to provide a quality history curriculum that: instils the love of history in the children; stimulates their curiosity about the past in Britain as well as the Wider World; and learn about how the past influences the present.

Our history curriculum draws from the immediate and wider local area, enabling children to develop a deep understanding of the rich history of their locality. Topics are not only informed by the national curriculum but are also sensitive to pupil's backgrounds, as well as the context of the local area.

This enables all children to:

gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world which helps to stimulate pupils' curiosity to know more about the past;
become increasingly analytical thinkers by thinking critically, weighing evidence, sifting arguments, and developing perspective and judgement;
begin to understand the complexity of people's lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Implementation

History is taught in blocks throughout the year, so that children can achieve depth in their learning.

In KS1, History begins by looking at the children's own personal history and introduces them to the idea of chronology and timelines.
In KS1, History will look at significant events and people who have shaped society, locally, nationally and globally.
In KS2, History is taught chronologically to allow children to confidently place each time period. This allows pupils to consistently build on previous knowledge and learning by placing previously taught History topics on a timeline
To support teaching, staff have access to range of resources and planning from the Historical Association.
Medium term planning for all units will cover key historical concepts: Chronological understanding, Historical knowledge, Historical interpretation, Historical enquiry and organisation and communication.
Children are given opportunities, where possible, to study artefacts leading to enquiry, investigation, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and presentation.
We plan for effective use of educational visits and visitors, to enrich and enhance the pupil's learning experience and the History curriculum.
Cross-curricular links are planned for with other subjects such as Writing and Art.

Impact

The history curriculum in St. Joseph's ensures enthusiastic pupils who enjoy their learning and are becoming increasingly critical and analytical in their thinking. They will be increasingly aware of how historical events have shaped the world that they are living in and have a further understanding of History on a local level.