Be inquisitive.          Be brave.         Be a Historian.

At St Aelred’s, our History curriculum is ambitious and sequential. Designed and adapted to stimulate pupil’s interest, curiosity and understanding about the past of not only Britain but the wider world.

Building on key concepts through an enquiry-based curriculum, helps our children go deeper into history. Understanding when, why, where  and how key events happened improves every students’ cultural capital, understanding of the world around them as well as their own heritage.

Our historians in the making are exposed to History through six key concepts: Community, Knowledge, Invasion, Civilisation, Power and Democracy. Building the children’s understanding of these key concepts helps them make links to past learning and allows them to use it to enhance current learning.

‘History helps pupils 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.’ (National Curriculum)

Intent

At St Aelred’s, we believe a high-quality History education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. A curriculum that inspires pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Our curriculum equips pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils 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 our time.

Implementation

History at St Aelred’s is taught across each year group in modules that enable pupils to study in depth key historical understanding, skills and vocabulary. Each module aims to activate and build upon prior learning, from EYFS to Year 6, to ensure better cognition and retention. Each module is carefully sequenced to enable pupils to purposefully layer learning from previous sessions to facilitate the acquisition and retention of key historical knowledge. As the children move through year groups, they are introduced to a new Key Concept that are revisited throughout their time at school. Alongside the six key concepts, our children are encouraged to ‘Think like a Historian’ by focussing their enquiry into one or more of the following within a lesson: The Science of Time; the reason and result of things that happened in the past; how key people, places and events changed or stayed the same over time; similarities; how we know about the past; why people, events or ideas are important to our studies.

Lesson content is revisited as part of a spaced retrieval practice method to ensure pupils retain key knowledge and information. Children’s knowledge and understanding is continually assessed throughout through questioning, cumulative quizzing, pupil book studies and feedback in marking that supports and strengthens understanding.

Impact

The impact of our History curriculum is that children are equipped with history skills and chronological knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the next key stage and for their future life.

• In EYFS, children can compare differences between the past and present and they can begin to recognise key historical events and figures from reading.
• The children understand our past and their ancestors. They can recall different time periods and reflect on how it has changed society today.
• They are passionate about History and its significance today.
• Children can access and follow an ambitious curriculum that has our vision for exceptionally high expectations as a driver.
• Standards of work are strong and consistent throughout school.