History
"We are not makers of history. We are made by history “Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our vision is for the children of Barrow Hill to be curious about the history of the world and their local area. We have selected and deisgned our history curriuclum to include diverse narratives and voices. This past will help shape the children’s attitides, aspirations and future.
Our aim is that, through the teaching of History at Barrow Hill, we provide a purposeful platform for exploring, appreciating and understanding the world in which we live and how it relates to past events. We want to ensure that through History, children are able to explore the relationship between these events and significant individuals through the study of local, national and international history, with an awareness of their relationship to each other in a chronological sense.
The History curriculum enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas and which can and are used to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We want children to foster a local and world-wide knowledge, developing an understand of their place in the world.
We seek to inspire in children to develop confidence, to be inquisitive, to be independent, resilient learners and build a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, fostering a deeper understanding of the developments of society through time.
History Curriculum Implementation
At Barrow Hill Primary Academy, History is taught as part of a two-year cycle for each age phase and these are mapped out over the long-term plan. This ensures the content of the National Curriculum has been covered by the end of each phase. We alternate our focus between History and Geography ensuring that our children receive sufficient time to develop their skills and knowledge of the humanities subjects over two years. The History Knowledge Progression document is used to support with planning and assessment weaving knowledge and skills over a period of time. The History Knowledge Progression document is used alongside the Grammarsaurus scheme of work to support with planning and assessment. S plans are created by the class teacher and shared with the children throughout the journey. The curriculum is sequenced and lessons are crafted to ensure that learning steps are connected.
Children record their learning journey’s in a humanities book and upload digital content to Class Dojo. Our whole school oracy focus underpins our vocabulary rich History Curriculum. Teachers use questioning and provide opportunities for discussion and investigation to support the development of vocabulary. This is explicitly taught and modelled by teachers.
We support learning with educational visits to inspire our children and widen their cultural experiences. This is with particular focus on the local historical studies to build contextual understanding and enriching experience to inspire learning and discussion back in the classroom. Teachers use a range of resources to bring History to life including videos, photographs, articles, artefacts and high-quality websites as source material.
We are developing our use of Knowledge Organisers to ensure that ‘sticky knowledge’ and ‘key vocabulary’ are embedded into the learning journey sequence. This will support teachers when assessing what the children have remembered and will be a useful visual prompt when revisiting prior learning.
To raise the profile of History, purposeful cross curricular links are made to other subjects. These links must be a high-quality historical experience and can only occur if historical skills and knowledge are at the core. For example:
- Mathematics – Building a sense of chronology in time and exploring alternative number systems used in history.
- Art, music, religious education, food technology - Explored when learning about a new period of history
- Geography – Exploring the location around a specific period of history and how that influenced life and culture.
- Science – Exploring the work of key scientists and changes in historical theories and thinking over time.
- English – Reading from different sources, sharing knowledge through presentations, discussions, written forms and digital
- Computing – using programs to share information digitally to communicate with wider audiences, researching information, questioning the authenticity and accuracy of information on the internet
- Languages – learn about the development of language systems in different historical cultures.
The impact of our History curriculum is measured in a variety of ways: questioning during lesson time, marking children’s written work, listening to child-led discussion, interviewing children across the school about their learning, work scrutiny and using images/videos of children’s practical learning. The Knowledge Progression document and Knowledge Organisers will support teachers making judgements about children’s attainment and progress.
By end of the History curriculum at Barrow Hill, our children will:
- Have a growing knowledge of key historical events, significant individuals and chronology.
- Have a wider vocabulary of historical terms.
- Aspire to discover more about the past and how it has influenced modern day life.
- Know that they can use their voice to express themselves and their opinions.
- Develop their geographical skills, such as, evaluation, creativity, problem solving and enquiry through exposure to and discussions about a range of source material.