History

EYFS: Pupils begin to make sense of their own life-story, family history and community.

In the Early Years and Foundation Stage, children study history through the overarching concept, 'Understanding the World: Past and Present’. By exposing children to a range of frequent experiences, that they have not experienced before, we aim to help them make sense of the world around them whilst increasing knowledge and understanding of various concepts, such as: different types of families; the numerous, important roles of people within society and cultural and social differences within our communities, past and present. Children's vocabulary is enriched through careful and progressive planning, including a wide range of texts, fiction and non-fiction, stories, poetry and rhymes and songs.

KS1: Pupils use their own experiences to connect to U.K. History and the World beyond.

In Key Stage One, children begin to develop an understanding of living memory through a study of immediate family and their experiences, leading to children making comparisons and connections to present day, and their own personal experiences. Children will begin to develop understanding of ‘Black History’ through their studies of influential figures, such as Marcus Rashford and Mary Seacole, and make comparisons and connections to other significant historical figures and events, such as Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War. Teaching children in sequence from present day, and working backwards, helps them to make links between their own lives and events to those in the past.

KS2: Pupils study British and World history in chronological order.

In Key Stage Two, children are able to digest and make sense of more abstract concepts, enabling a deeper exploration of time periods throughout History. Pupils are given the opportunity to develop a chronologically secure knowledge of British, local and World History where they will 'note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the use of historical terms’. Learning progresses from the Stone Age, through to ancient civilisations, such as the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. Children begin to place these in context on a timeline and understand that some of these civilisations actually overlapped. These studies also help pupils recognise the impact of these periods on our lives today, such as understanding how invasions carried out by the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans in turn, each impacted upon rights, peace, trade, war, empire, monarchy and democracy. Children are encouraged to analyse sources of evidence, ask questions and make informed judgements to support the development of disciplinary skills. Substantive learning is developed and explored as children apply second order skills (such as ‘cause and consequence’, ‘similarity and difference’ and ‘historical significance’) to consider deeper concepts specific to each of the periods studied. For example, the Ancient Egyptians and mummification and how this practice led to their awareness of internal organs and hence helped them to develop surgery based on anatomical knowledge.