History

History - Intent, Implementation and Impact

This statement is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We are utterly committed to the fact that children have a right to:

• a life that meets their physical, social and mental needs (Article 27)
• an education (Article 28)
• develop their abilities and talents (Article 29)

Intent

We are committed to providing a high-quality History education for all our children. It is our intention that our History education will help equip pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed beyond the school gates, in the wider world.           

History learning at Manor Fields forms a part of the foundation upon which children build their understanding of the world. When teaching History, we strive to stimulate the children’s curiosity to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding about the past in Britain and the wider world. We want the children to understand how the past influences the present through finding out about how and why the world and our country/community have developed over time. History  enables children to develop a context for their lives and a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people.  Our History teaching incorporates local context and it is vocabulary rich, rooted in our vision to allow children to develop academically and personally. As teachers, we aspire to ensure that the skills taught are transferable throughout their time at Manor Fields and also further into their education.

We want our pupils to:

• Be inquisitive curious historians who can ask, answer, analyse and draw contrasts about key concepts and questions about the past.
• Be critical historians who are able to decipher primary and secondary sources of information and understand the methods of historical enquiry
• Have a rich historical language that allows children to talk confidently and coherently about known historical facts and to be able to apply their language knowledge to historical vocabulary such as empire and civilisation. 
• Develop an extensive historical knowledge about taught periods of history that then becomes retained knowledge in which children can explain and decipher throughout their history education.
• Be ethical historians who are able to discuss and debate.
• Be individuals who recognise and celebrate diversity and are able to examine their own life experience and life knowledge and compare it with the experiences of those in the past.

Implementation

In order to develop well rounded and successful historians, we take guidance from the National Curriculum whilst understanding the need to personalise the curriculum for our children.  We expose our children to planned and differentiated lessons which are taught with clear objectives. Thanks to carefully planned progression documents, ensure that during our dedicated lessons, there is continuity and progression across the key stages.

Each year group studies three history topics a year. By revisiting historical skills in different contexts, we strive to ensure that children have diverse opportunities to deepen their understanding

History is taught every term in ‘blocks’ of learning that focus upon skills and knowledge. In addition, we maximise meaningful links with other curriculum areas whenever possible. Most lessons have a similar structure though the initial lesson is often designed as a ‘hook’ to captivate the children’s curiosity and interest:

Starter– Lessons typically begin by recapping prior knowledge and discussing specific vocabulary before introducing new learning. 

Main body of lesson- Each lesson places content within a carefully-planned sequence of learning. In addition, each lesson includes activities which incorporate fundamental skills which promote deeper understanding of subject knowledge.

​Plenary - reflection is a core component of teaching at Manor Fields as it gives all children the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding and reflect on the learning process.  This understanding can be captured in a number of ways from floor books to assessed pieces of learning. The delivered content can also be carefully tracked through this assessment process so that future learning can be precisely tailored to individuals and cohorts.

Impact

In History, impact is assessed through:

• A secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods covered.
• The ability to think critically about history and challenge their own and others views.
• Enthusiasm for History and a desire to find out more.
• Formal and informal assessment
• Pupil conferencing

Please find these really useful knowledge organisers that contain a summary of the facts and key knowledge for each year groups History learning. 

Autumn term knowledge organisers; 

Year 1 Toys and Games

Year 2 Salisbury Cathedral

Year 3 Stonehenge

Year 4 Ancient Greece

Year 5 The Roman Empire

Year 6 King John Magna Carta

Spring term knowledge organisers; 

Year 1 The Great Fire of London

Year 2 Mary Anning

Year 3 Sumer

Year 4 Maya

Year 5 Anglo Saxons

Year 6 Tudors

Summer term knowledge organisers; 

Year 1 Columbus and Armstrong

Year 2 World War 2

Year 3 Ancient Egypt

Year 4 Old Sarum

 Year 5 Vikings

Year 6 World War 1