Telford Infant School

Miss Catherine Orton

History Subject Leader

Why do we teach History?

History is a fascinating and engaging subject full of opportunities for children to develop their sense of identity, acquire lifelong skills and enjoy discovering information. We know it is important for children to understand their own past, their family history and the past of the local area which provides the basis for studying national and international history. Through studying history children develop key life skills such as questioning sources of information, having empathy for others with different life experiences and confidently sharing ideas. The past impacts all of our daily lives, the experiences our children will have and how we live today. Through studying history children develop an appreciation of how we can learn from the past including recognising mistakes that have been made – both their own and by others - and we can use the past to understand how to avoid repeating these. Ultimately we want to spark a lifelong curiosity in history!

How do we teach History?

The teaching of history is ongoing through the school year with all year groups commemorating important historical events such as Armistice day through a Remembrance Day assembly and the 60^th anniversary of the school opening. We also make sure to mark key events in children’s lives including birthdays, starting school and moving year groups.

In Reception history is taught in discrete lessons linked to the topic, particularly through stories and according the needs to the cohort and class. The focus is on building a recognition of each child's past and making sense of their own and their family's past. For example discussing what a child did at the weekend and comparing what they could do as a baby and as a child.

In Key Stage 1 the children have history focused topics and discrete history lessons in addition to linking their history learning across the curriculum. Children use a range of sources to be ‘history detectives’ and find out information for themselves and then present their knowledge in a variety of ways including drawing, writing, and labelling images.

Throughout the school the children are required to think about the chronological order of events. They study key individuals, how the the individual contributed to their own time and have impacted our lives today. When possible we take the children on trips in the local area including to Mary Ardern’s farm and St John's museum. These trips give the children a chance to put their learning into context and gain a sense of familiarity for the places and environments the people they studied would have been to.

How your child will make progress in History during their time at Telford Infant School.

Through their journey at Telford Infant school the children will start to develop their historical appreciation by thinking about their own lives and historical events that are commonly celebrated. This focus ensures the children can cultivate a clear understanding of the past and the present. As they move through the school children explore their family history and the history of the local area enabling them to develop their historical skills before moving onto more unfamiliar topics. Topics focus on key historical events and individuals such as The Moon Landing, Shakespeare, The Great Fire of London, The Victorians and Beatrix Potter.

History National Curriculum

Purpose of study

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils 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.

Aims

The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:

know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.
gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’.
understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Key stage 1

Pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. 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. They should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.

In planning to ensure the progression described above through teaching about the people, events and changes outlined below, teachers are often introducing pupils to historical periods that they will study more fully at key stages 2 and 3.

Pupils should be taught about:

changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life
events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally.
the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods.
significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.