Intent – What is taught in our History Curriculum?

Our History curriculum has been designed by teachers and the subject-lead in line with the National Curriculum to ensure that historical enquiry skills progress throughout the whole school.  Both History and Geography form the basis of year groups’ termly topics and so strong links are made across subjects, particularly with English, to ensure high-quality writing. Our History curriculum aims to motivate children to be inquisitive about the past and provide children with the knowledge and skills to understand significant history of Bristol, Britain and the wider world.  The curriculum is designed to build children’s skills as they progress through the school, so that they can ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, consider different arguments and sources, and develop perspective and judgement. With these skills, we hope that children will be able to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and key significant events and figures in history.  

By the end of KS1, all children will be able to:

·       develop an awareness of the past and use common words and phrases relating to the passing of time

·       know where people and the events they study fit within a chronological framework

·       identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods

·       ask and answer questions

·       make choices about using sources to show they understand key events

·       understand some of the ways we find out about the past and how it is represented 

By the end of KS2, all children will be able to:

·       continue to develop a chronological understanding of British, local and world history

·       make connections, contrasts and trends over time, noting similarities and differences

·       use appropriate historical terms and vocabulary

·       confidently ask historically valid questions

·       thoughtfully select and organise historical information to help construct informed responses

·       use a range of sources to understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed 

Teachers ensure there is progression in knowledge and skills by using our Progression document, which sets out the objectives taught in each year group.  The main theme that runs throughout our history curriculum is children and family. Within each unit, pupils learn about what life was like in that particular period of history for children and family way of life. This ensures the curriculum is relevant and accessible for all of our pupils. Another theme within our history curriculum is that of the locality of Bristol.  They seek to understand how Bristol and the surrounding area was impacted during that historical period. Trips to local sites are made wherever possible. Children also learn about significant historical figures, again with a focus on those who were from our area of the world. At the beginning of each unit, the topic is given chronological context, by giving children the opportunity to relate it to other time periods they have learnt about previously.