Intent:
As President Harry S. Truman once said, ‘‘the only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.’’ History is a subject that has incredible importance here at Christ Church CEP Academy. History fires children’s curiosity about the past. It encourages thinking about how the past influences the present. It develops a chronological framework for knowledge of significant events and people. History helps children form a sense of identity and understanding of their place in their own community and the world. In addition, it develops the essential skills of research, analysis, evaluation and communication.
Implementation
We aim for our children to receive a broad and balanced History curriculum in which children learn about both ancient and modern history, significant individuals and key historical events. Our aim with the History curriculum is to develop historical enquiry and a sense of chronology and curiosity. Wherever possible pupils are given opportunities to examine a variety of sources including artefacts, pictures and texts and to visit places of historic importance. Teachers focus on helping pupils to develop the skills to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, develop perspective and judgement and reflect and review events of the past thus deepening their understanding that historical events can be interpreted in different ways. As pupils progress through the school, they communicate and process their knowledge in an increasingly sophisticated way.
Most year groups have three history topics a year and throughout our history curriculum, three key threads permeate throughout: Progress, Events and Change (PEC). These are interlinked throughout and each thread (Progress, Events and Change) progresses and builds in knowledge and complexity from Year R through to Year 6. In sequencing our curriculum in this way, we also promote the opportunity for children to compare and contrast topics - whether this is two ancient civilizations that have been learnt about or two similar periods in history. Our Christ Church Experience maps out the historical topics that are taught and our History progression maps out how each thread builds from year to the next.
At Christ Church, we teach history through History curriculum lessons but we also give the children the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in English lessons: the main class text links in with their history topic for that term, which provides pupils with the opportunity to showcase and make links through extended writing tasks. This approach allows our children to immerse themselves in a topic while developing an intellectual curiosity.
Impact
At Christ Church children have the opportunity to record their learning in a variety of ways. Evidence of the learning is dependent on the lesson outcome, year group and the skills and knowledge being developed. This can be in the form of their history book, extended writing, photographs of practical activities or historical timelines relating to the learning.
Throughout the course of the lesson the class teacher (and support staff where present) will move around the class, offering support where needed so that each child receives direct feedback and the appropriate level of challenge.
History is also assessed using quizzes and in class assessments at the end of a topic to assess their knowledge. This is reviewed by the History Team and class teachers and is used to inform future planning and starters in lessons where pupils recap and review previous learning e.g. through a history timeline with the key facts.
