History

Intent

At St Thomas’ we aim to provide children with a high quality history curriculum which will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. The structure of the curriculum will allow children to make links between current and previous learning and make comparisons between historical periods taught. They will develop their chronological knowledge and understanding from the Stone Age to present day. We want children to become curious to know more about the past. Our engaging and experiential lessons will empower children to ask questions, think critically as well as gain a sense of identity through learning about the past by knowing how history has shaped their lives.

Implementation

Teachers use a variety of teaching and learning styles within lessons to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in history lessons. Through their history lessons children have the chance to handle artefacts as well as using secondary sources, such as books and photos. Children are also given the opportunity within lessons to work independently as well as collaboratively to ask and answer questions. All children within the school also have access to an iPad. This allows children to carry out independent research on questions they may have about a particular topic as well as presenting their work in a variety of ways. Children have access to apps such as Book Creator, Clips, Key Notes, Seesaw which enables them to record and present their work in a way which best suits their needs and abilities.

Impact

All classes complete a mind map at the start of a topic to assess the starting point for the topic as well as identify any misconceptions that the children may have. In Key Stage One a whole class mind map is then completed at the end of a topic to assess how knowledge has grown and developed across the topic. In Key Stage Two, children complete an individual mind map at the end of the topic so they can see themselves how much knowledge and understanding they have gained throughout the topic. History lessons are assessed on Seesaw. Skills for history are tagged for each child, this then informs teacher assessment at the end of each term. In addition, it may also highlight gaps that need to be covered within the next topics to ensure that children receive experience of all history skills needed.