Skip to content ↓

History

Subject Leader: Mr Farmer

Intent

We live in a place rich in the history of our nation. From the Neolithic stone circles to the Roman occupation, our location offers a range of hands-on learning experiences. We have designed a curriculum that makes use of these rich resources to give children to have an understanding of how the past has shaped the place in which they now live.

As well as learning about the history of our locality, we also teach children about events in the past both here in the UK and beyond to help them understand how events in the past have shaped our lives and the world we live in. We want to give children a secure knowledge of the chronology of history from the first peoples to now, whilst also enabling them to have deeper learning experiences of some of the more significant turning points in national and global world history.

To enrich children’s learning, we aim to provide memorable experiences for the children which deepen their understanding of historical periods, whilst also making the most of our local environment. Examples include developing links to local museums (Tullie House), as well as visits to important historical places in the area, such as Hadrian’s Wall and the Beamish Living Museum. We also welcome visitors into school (such as a workshop by a Stone Age elder and a talk by a World War 2 evacuee) or through trips (including York’s Jorvik Centre and DIG archaeology adventure). 

Implementation

At Temple Sowerby CE Primary School, history is taught through a carefully planned series of termly or half-termly topics, following a 4-year rolling programme that ensures complete National Curriculum coverage. Because of our mixed-age classes, children are not always taught historical events in chronological order; however, through revisiting past topics and making lots of links between them, children are able to establish clear narratives within and across the periods they study.

 

As well as bespoke lessons, other cross-curricular opportunities arise regularly, whether through the use of timelines in maths, to the use of maps and atlases when learning about different world civilisations.

Impact

By the end of Key Stage 1, children should be able to use words relating to the passing of time and a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. Children should be able to ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources. Pupils should understand about changes within living memory and significant national or global events. They should know about the lives of significant individuals in different periods who have contributed to national and international achievements and significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

By the end of Key Stage 2, children should have developed a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history. They should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. Children should be able to answer and devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity, difference and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

For further details of how history is taught at Temple Sowerby CE Primary School, including our long-term planning and progression documents, please see our policy below. You can also see our long-term plan and how this meets the requirements of the National Curriculum at our Curriculum Design page.