History at St. Monica's

Intent

At St Monica’s Catholic Primary School, we believe in a high-quality history curriculum which aims to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding about the life of people and events in the past both in Britain and the wider world. Through a chronological study of British and World history children are able to develop a sense of identity, investigate and interpret the past as well as thinking like and being historians. We enrich children’s learning in the following ways: 

• Knowing and understanding the chronology of British history from the earliest times to present day. 
• Developing an awareness of how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world. 
• Knowing and understanding significant aspects of history and the wider world. 
• Acquiring an understanding of historical vocabulary and abstract terms. 
• Reflecting, debating, discussing and evaluating the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry. 
• Developing a sense of curiosity about the past including how and why people interpret the past in different ways.
• Valuing their cultural heritage and British values.

This practice is in line with the education inspection blog ‘History in outstanding primary schools’ Tim Jenner HMI (27th April 2021)

Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in history is progressive throughout the whole school so children can achieve a depth of understanding in their learning. Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each topic and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group. We plan our history curriculum in line with the aims of the National Curriculum. At the beginning of each topic, children have opportunities to engage in activities involving revisiting previous learning which prepares them for the following topic. Material should be revisited on a regular basis so that the key information can be stored more effectively in children’s long-term memory (Pan and Argarwal, 2018). St Monica’s have appointed a coordinator for each key stage. As part of their planning process, coordinators and teachers ensure that: 

• Staff meeting time is allocated throughout the year to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the curriculum.
• There is an investment in trips and outside experts to create a meaningful context for learning.
• High quality resources and texts are used to support the children’s learning and are regularly reviewed. 
• Teachers ensure that the curriculum is ambitious but inclusive to all pupils. 
• Meaningful cross-curricular links are developed to deepen children’s understanding. 
• Projects to create links between school and home. 
• Use of ‘Timebox’ to reinforce chronological knowledge of time periods studied in relation to each other.

Impact

The history curriculum at St. Monica’s helps pupils to make sense of the present as well as the past. The children are equipped with historical skills and knowledge which enable them to make progress throughout the history curriculum. Children have the ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas confidently. They evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using a range of sources to support their learning.

Progress through the history curriculum is measured through a mixture of formative and summative assessment, regular book moderation, celebration events and discussion and review of work with children. Feedback is continually given to children which leads to better outcomes. At the end of each topic the children will debate an issue, evaluate a statement/question or complete an end of topic quiz. This enables us to determine if children have a secure understanding of historical concepts taught as they move forward to their next stage of education. The core assumptions of knowledge that is powerful is that it can be applied, is flexible and is conceptual (Young, 2016).