Intent

West Lane’s history curriculum ignites curiosity and inspires a love of learning for pupils throughout the school aiming to bring the past to life through engaging, creative lessons that help children understand key historical issues, changes, concepts and legacies in great depth. Our history curriculum is very much underpinned by the skills we have identified our children need to be successful across the wider curriculum, and through real-life experiences as well as close study of historical interpretations and sources, children are continually challenged to acquire a broad and secure knowledge base. This is achieved through questioning, researching, investigating, reasoning, problem solving, the use of ICT, developing the ability to empathise, being challenged and becoming resilient. We believe that by learning about their past, it equips them to also consider their own futures.

Our History curriculum is accessible to all and maximises the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more. Throughout their West Lane journey, the children will:

• Develop an appropriate vocabulary for discussing and interpreting the past.
• Increase and develop their historical skills, concepts, knowledge and attitudes.
• Increase their understanding of the present in the context of the past.
• Develop and use their skills in enquiry, analysis, evaluation, and argument.
• Develop their interest in the past, arousing their curiosity and motivation to learn.
• Develop a sense of identity through learning about the past.

Implementation

In order to inspire our pupils’ enthusiasm and excitement about history, we aim to bring the past to life by carefully planning knowledge-led, creative and engaging lessons that will develop pupils’ knowledge to a greater degree of depth. At West Lane, history is taught as a discrete subject across Key Stage 1 and 2, and teaching follows guidance set out in the national curriculum.

Each year group covers the following objectives, always presented in a meaningful and engaging context, which are introduced to ensure progression of understanding, skills, chronological awareness and vocabulary:

Year 1: significant historical events, people and places in their own locality (Knights and Castles); changes within living memory (Toys over Time)

Year 2: events beyond living memory (The Great Fire of London); the lives of significant individuals who have contributed to national and international achievements (Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong)

Year 3: changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age; a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history (the Mayan civilization c. AD 900)

Year 4: the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain; a local history study (the impact of the Victorians on the local area); the achievements of the earliest civilizations (The Ancient Egyptians)

Year 5: Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots; the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor; Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world

Year 6: a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 (World War II)

We know that our children learn better when knowledge is linked, and, wherever possible, children are given the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge and understanding using their history knowledge as a stimulus for the writing in English.

Impact

Children will develop the historical knowledge and skills to help them investigate and understand the past, make comparisons and understand how key people, events and inventions impact on our lives today. Children’s knowledge, vocabulary and skills develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare them to become competent historians in the next stages of their education and beyond. Children will also get the opportunity to study key historical figures and events beyond the national curriculum through whole school work on British Values and as a UNICEF Rights Respecting School: for example, we have researched and remembered local soldiers from WWI to celebrate the centenary of Armistice Day and during remembrance week; looked at the impact of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks during Black History Month; and celebrated the courage of Anne Frank and others facing prejudice on Holocaust Memorial Day.

History Website Ideas