History Curriculum
intent
At Princess May, we want our children to develop an appreciation and understanding of the past, evaluating a range of primary and secondary sources. Our historians will also be able to explain clearly how these sources give us an insight about how people around the world used to live and how these interpretations may differ. Our History curriculum (Plan-Bee and Reach-Out) has been designed to cover all the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum.
To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge, and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way.
When covering each of these strands, the content will be carefully organised by each year group through a long -term plan. Content knowledge, vocabulary and skills will then be planned for at a greater level of detail in the medium- term plan. History is delivered through subject specific teaching organised into terms, Autumn 1, Autumn 2 and Summer 1. Meaningful links with other subjects are made to strengthen connections and understanding for pupils.
implementation
All learning will start by revisiting prior knowledge. This will be scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. Staff will model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. Learning will be supported through the use of knowledge organisers that provide children with scaffolding that supports them to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long -term memory. Knowledge organisers are used for pre-teaching, to support home learning and as a part of daily review.
All learning will start with revisiting prior knowledge and making meaningful connections. At the start of each lesson, teachers will display the retrieval quiz and give pupils five minutes to complete it independently. Pupils are encouraged to try and remember these things independently, but to check back in their booklets if they are stuck. Everybody marks together, either self or peer. Pupils to identify where they need to go back to reviewing their knowledge organiser.
History assessment is ongoing throughout the relevant cross-curricular themes to inform teachers with their planning for lesson activities and differentiation. As part of the Assessment for Learning progress in KS1 Summative assessment is completed at the end of each unit. Teachers have access to an assessment grid to track children's learning during these lessons. In KS2, summative assessment is completed at the end of each topic where history objectives have been covered. At the end of each unit, pupils write an extended essay. This ensures that pupils can elaborate on all of the knowledge that they acquired throughout the unit.
impact
We use a variety of strategies to evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that our children gain as they progress from Nursery to Year 6. At Princess May, Pupil voice shows that pupils are confident and able to talk about what they have learnt in history using subject specific vocabulary. Pupil voice also demonstrates that pupils enjoy history and can recall their learning over time. At Princess May, we use summative assessment to determine children’s understanding and inform teachers planning. CPD to ensure that teacher pedagogy and assessment is secure. This is reviewed on a termly basis by the subject leader, who also carries regular learning walks, books scrutiny and lesson observations.
cultural capital
With our firm belief that knowledge is transferable, our pupils are given every opportunity to participate in a wide range of learning experiences beyond their classroom. At Princess May our history curriculum allows children to develop their cultural capital. Purposeful links to British values and discussions around being good UK and global citizens are threaded through the curriculum. It is important to provide pupils with the opportunity to understand the world around them and apply their experiences to what they have learnt in the classroom. Teachers are encouraged book history trips in the Autumn term to ensure that pupils get a wealth of experience of Hackney and of wider world.