St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary School

History Curriculum Statement

Intent

 At St. Patrick’s, our vision is that pupils leave our school with an enquiring mind: a mind which enables children to combine their knowledge of significant events and people from the past with analytical thinking, so that they can ask questions about the world they live in and how this will shape their futures. 

We want pupils to make progress in history through building their knowledge of the past, and of how historians study the past and construct accounts. We want our teaching  to support pupil progress by planning pupils’ learning so that key knowledge and concepts are built upon over time. This gives them a secure sense of what they have learned and prepares them for what they need to learn next. 

We believe that learning about significant events and people in history are key to developing an enquiring and questioning mind. Children are exposed to a range of historical knowledge to encourage them to understand how the modern world has been shaped by a series of events, exploring what life was like for different people at different times. This aims to encourage children to understand, empathise and ask questions about the world they live in and the people we share it with. 

History has always been held in high regard at St Patrick’s RC Primary School.  The local area’s own rich history is a celebrated and inspiring feature of the school’s curriculum.  The history curriculum at St Patrick’s draws from and makes full use of the immediate and wider local area, enabling children to develop a deep understanding of the rich history of their locality. 

We want to:

  • To teach the National Curriculum minimum expectations for key stages 1–2
  • Help pupils be better at History by defining our  ‘core’ content – this is our substantive knowledge – which we want pupils to know and remember from particular topics so we can focus clearly on what we want the children to remember and know
  • Plan opportunities for pupils to learn  disciplinary knowledge over time so pupils will study specific examples of how historians study the past. eg look at sources, how we make assumptions  about the past, how we make claims.
  • Develop pupils  chronological understanding so they are equipped with a developed understanding of chronology and of the different time periods of both British and world history
  • Develop context learning to help pupils get better at learning and remembering by framing learning into specific contexts or topics e.g. the Anglo-Saxons, Romans, etc.
  • To give breadth to pupils’ learning by creating opportunities for pupils to build their knowledge of a wide range of historical places, events and periods.
  • Support pupils to transfer knowledge learned in one topic so they can use it in other topics.
  • Enable all pupils to access the curriculum and ensure that this is not reduced or minimised for pupils with SEND
  • Improve children’s knowledge and use of historical vocabulary
  • Improve learning by organising our key knowledge so pupils build their learning through concepts such as power, ancestry, democracy, conflict and invasion.

 

Implementation

EYFS

Children start on their history educational journey in the Early Years Foundation Stage. What children learn in EYFS is crucial knowledge for them to build on in the future. The knowledge and vocabulary that children develop, particularly through the ‘understanding the world’ area of learning, enable them to access history content at key stage 1. We begin our formal history education at key stage 1. 

 

 

Clear and Consistent approach to pedagogy 

Consistent approach to teaching – our model for learning

Retrieval and Recall

Retrieval tasks are a focus in all lessons so children build on prior knowledge. Recall tasks are used to check existing knowledge at the beginning of each history topic; allowing opportunities for key knowledge to be reviewed by the children and rigorously checked and consolidated by the teacher. Each unit of study draws upon our children’s prior learning and new content is introduced in a carefully planned and logical sequence, allowing them to build upon what they already know.

Vocabulary Development  – the teaching of vocabulary 

All curriculum plans focus on the structured, progressive understanding of vocabulary. Lessons have a clear focus on predetermined vocabulary which is modelled and taught by staff.

Checking for understanding – looking for Misconceptions

Effective Questioning:  questioning from the teacher enables them to check for understanding and address any misconceptions during lessons. This enables quality formative assessment. 

Summarising: asking children to summarise their understanding of a particular historical event or concept can assess understanding, whilst allowing for any misconceptions to be immediately addressed.

Justifying: asking children to provide an opinion on a given historical issue and then allowing them to justify and explain their answers using their acquired historical knowledge and reasoning.

Live marking : enables teachers to check for understanding and provide immediate feedback for pupils.

Explain and Modelling

High quality history teaching requires clear & concise  teacher explanations and explicit modelling of skills

In all lessons, teacher explanations should be  supported by strong subject knowledge.

Disciplinary knowledge & historical skills, such as source analysis and evaluation should be made explicit to children and then skillfully modelled in a step by step format.

Children should then be provided with the opportunity to implement these historical skills independently.

 

Scaffolding 

Teachers plan scaffolds for learning to support the children who need it. Scaffolding is the temporary support that is removed when it is no longer required’, providing ​‘enough support so that pupils can successfully complete tasks that they could not yet do independently’. A teacher may show the thought processes they go through and model expected outcomes. The teacher would also anticipate likely mistakes. All staff Teachers and Teaching Assistants have had training in how best to support children with effective scaffolding.

 

Applying Learning

Teaching needs to move pupils so they have the knowledge to work independently. Teaching is often modelled around the I do, We Do, You do model.

Pupils require the opportunity to apply the knowledge or practise the historical skills they have been taught.

Pupils should be encouraged and given the opportunity to work independently and apply what they have learned and develop their skills whenever possible.

 

 

Planned Progress in Substantive and Disciplinary Knowledge

Our curriculum plans focus on the development of knowledge::

  • their knowledge about the past – ‘substantive knowledge’
  • their knowledge about how historians investigate the past, and how they construct historical assumptions-  ‘disciplinary knowledge’

All of our planning is built around the acquisition and development of this knowledge so it is an integral part of our teaching and learning.

Avoiding Cognitive Overload

Planning priorities key learning within lessons so pupils are not overloaded and recall tasks enable pupils to use previous learning so they can connect concepts and secure their understanding.

Developing understanding of Chronology

The development of this is planned and we take a progressive approach, mapping out what is to be taught in each topic, so pupils progressively improve their knowledge as they develop through the school. At the beginning of each new history topic, teachers refer to classroom timelines to develop children’s understanding of chronology.  Each topic is introduced with reference to the chronology of previous topics (including those from previous years). 

Reading through History

Stories are an essential part of learning as they help with more abstract concepts e.g. monarchies. These are planned so they are age appropriate and they broaden the experiences for the pupils. To enrich the language of history we want pupils to have opportunities to read or hear appropriately challenging texts.

Inclusion and Ambition 

All pupils are entitled to a broad history curriculum. Any adaptations made to support pupils’ learning in history usually should not be to the overall curriculum content, but rather to how the content is taught. In summary we try, where possible, to adapt the tasks and the activities so all children learn the same content.

 

Breadth & Depth

The curriculum builds progressively in terms of conceptual understanding and the generative learning of substantive knowledge.

Cause and consequence 

Change and continuity

Similarity and difference 

Historical significance 

Sources and evidence 

Historical Interpretation 

 

Building from the foundations made in EYFS

The teaching of history begins in EYFS following a topic based approach. To help children we focus on a few concepts that are particularly important in their future learning in history. Children do not, at this age, need comprehensive or complex knowledge of concepts. Early familiarity with these concepts will allow children to access the curriculum as they develop through the school. Learning is linked to family and local history so they develop early concepts familiar to them. 

 

SEND

Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) have the greatest need for excellent history teaching and are entitled to provision that supports achievement at, and enjoyment of, school. At times we should modify our  teaching approaches to support pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities There is a need for all pupils to share the same curriculum, with the same level of historical knowledge that pupils should know wherever possible. We ensure all pupils have access to high quality teaching by: flexible grouping; cognitive and metacognitive strategies;  explicit instruction; using technology; and scaffolding.

Teaching Assistants

Teaching assistants make a major contribution to history. They do this through their support for children as individuals, as groups and as classes.  Following the EFF research on scaffolding, research has shown that improving the nature and quality of TAs’ talk to pupils can support the development of independent learning skills, which are associated with improved learning outcomes. TAs are trained to avoid prioritising task completion and instead concentrate on helping pupils develop ownership of tasks.TAs should aim to give pupils the least amount of help first. They should allow sufficient wait time,so pupils can respond to a question or attempt the stage of a task independently. TAs should intervene appropriately when pupils demonstrate they are unable to proceed.

 

Assessment 

Staff use formative and summative assessment to support learning. In lesson checks are a strong feature so teachers can support pupils and summative assessment helps identify common weaknesses over time so these can be addressed. Ongoing marking of books, with each objective assessed: the teacher will tick three for greater depth, twice for a secure understanding, once for developing and a dot used for emerging.

  • Grades are inputted into termly trackers, which produce an analysis for subject leaders, broken down by gender, PP and SEND
  • Curriculum leader, supported by SLT, moderate grades against the evidence, alongside discussions with class teachers and a selection of pupils

 

CPD

Teachers have been well supported through professional development and are therefore confident and ambitious for pupils giving history such a high profile within school.

Outcomes in History and English books evidence a broad and balanced History curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. 

Historical  understanding, as well as children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is further supported by the school’s links with international partner schools and this is recognised by the school’s achievement of the British Council’s ‘International School Award’ through our work around Black History.

Topics are informed by the national curriculum and are sensitive to children’s interests, as well as the context of the local area.  The history curriculum at St Patrick’s is carefully planned and structured to ensure that current learning is linked to previous learning and that the school’s approaches are informed by current pedagogy.  In line with the national curriculum 2014, the curriculum at St Patrick’s aims to ensure that all pupils:   

  •  Gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world which helps to stimulate pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past;  
  • Are encouraged to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement;  
  • Begin 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.

In KS1, History is taught in blocks each term to embed knowledge and skills. In KS2, history is predominantly taught in the Autumn and Summer terms, however our curriculum is carefully planned to highlight the connections between history and geography (which is predominantly taught in the Spring term). This ensures that teaching and learning of both areas of study are contextualised, so that children achieve depth in their learning.  The key knowledge and skills that children acquire and develop throughout each area of study have been mapped to ensure progression between year groups throughout the school. Interlinked with this are studies of world history, such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Indus Valley. 

Cross curricular outcomes in history are specifically planned for.  The school’s own context is also considered, with opportunities for visits to places of historical interest and learning outside the classroom also identified and embedded in practice.  Visits to the local area and use of local artefacts, such as the use of maps and photographs of excavated local Roman villas, also support contextualised learning, as well as the acquisition of key knowledge and systematic development of key skills.   

Planning is informed by and aligned with the National Curriculum. Our bespoke curriculum has been designed by the history and geography subject leads with the support of staff across the school to ensure that teaching equips pupils with the skills and knowledge required to become knowledgeable, analytical citizens. The history curriculum is designed to ensure appropriate diversity in the significant figures that children learn about. 

 

 

Impact

Over time, pupils within school get better at History – they know more and learn the knowledge associated with being a Historian. All the areas of study within the National Curriculum are planned and taught so that the children have the knowledge of History and the disciplinary knowledge to help them succeed in KS3. Children’s knowledge is enhanced through the carefully planned use of texts and the quality of writing shows that pupils also learn to develop historical writing.

Outcomes in EYFS are strong as pupils develop the knowledge necessary in   ‘Understanding of the World so by the end of the academic year so they are ready to have this knowledge extended when they begin KS1.

The school’s pedagogical approach helps children remember key knowledge. The key knowledge is identified in planning and followed by teachers as a focal point for learning. Recall is an integral part of every lesson and ensures prior knowledge is secure to enable pupils to make connections in their learning and then they can build upon it.

Planning is bespoke to the school for our children and we have been able to model and revise our curriculum over time as our approach is now embedded.  This is not a new, bought in curriculum, but it is a purpose made curriculum which has developed and been refined over time. Tasks are purposefully chosen and layered if necessary so they clearly develop secure knowledge and progress over time. Key knowledge is clearly taught and followed and teachers regularly check what pupils know so they can adapt their teaching activities to support this drive.

Outcomes in History and English books evidence a broad and balanced History curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. 

Emphasis is placed on analytical thinking and questioning and children demonstrate a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world, in addition to being curious to know more about the past and their local area. 

Through this study, pupils ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. Connections with our local area provide further relevant and contextual learning, engaging members of the community in children’s learning and providing positive role models from the community for children to learn from.

We are proud of our curriculum and the impact on pupils.