Mayfield Primary SchoolHistory: Vision
HISTORY LEADER
Mr Denton
'ALWAYS START WITH WHY'
What is History?
How do historians work and learn?
We have set out in these two website pages how we consider these questions with our children by mapping out and delivering a clear, consistent and challenging curriculum for our children to meet their needs. You can download copies of every central document at the base of the relevant pages (VISION or CURRICULUM OVERVIEW) in PDF format. The subject guide and policy itself can be found at the base of this page.
To take a look at our curriculum overview page CLICK HERE.
Our Vision For History
Our history curriculum is rigorously sequenced so that our children’s historical knowledge, understanding and skills build over time. We have selected and designed our learning projects carefully so that our curriculum builds progressively within our disciplinary concepts that consistently take the viewpoint of how historians works and our substantive concepts that provide recurring threads throughout the seven year journey.
Within our classrooms, we follow ambitious lines of enquiry by asking big questions such as What was the cost of growth in Victorian Britain? We teach children the knowledge they need in small steps to answer challenging questions with careful thought and knowledge. Studying history in this way inspires children’s curiosity, encourages them to ask critical questions and enables them to have a better understanding of the society in which they live and that of the wider world. It also ensures that historical enquiry is at the centre of their approach to the subject and at all times they have the chance to recap previous learning and build logically.
Chronology places a central role throughout the curriculum. Developing an understanding of what this means in EYFS and KS1, whilst using this as a constant thread for the positioning and sequencing of our learning across KS2.
By carefully mapping our substantive concepts across the learning projects, we can ensure children make links and gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understand the connections between local, national and international history and between short and long-term timescales.
We have deliberately designed our history curriculum to ensure we embrace our unique locality and therefore recurring local history based projects ensure that a broad knowledge about the story of our coastline and how it has developed, influenced and changed over many years is a prominent part of the historical learning journey.
How We Plan For, And Teach, History
In EYFS, children begin to develop their sense of chronology by talking about their own life story and the life story of family members and famous people they study who have had remarkable lives. They are supported to communicate in the past tense when talking about things that have happened. Our children explore images of the past and make comparisons with the present most notably relating to our locality. Children will then re-visit these aspects once introduced through their work in provision, with specific adults and through enhancements made to the history inspired learning stations. In Key Stage 1, our curriculum is mapped to enable children to develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They will start to 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. As they progress through the key stage, they will begin to make comparisons and connections between people and events in the past. Developing a chronological awareness is a major concept from the outset. They will be introduced to concepts that will recur during their KS2 journey by considering the context of these peoples lives and events e.g. people’s ability to travel at the time of First Flight or St Annes in Bloom in the time of Victorian Britain.
In Key Stage 2, children will continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. This chronology, or sequence of events, will be referred to throughout KS2 so that children become secure in this discipline. It will also enable them to begin to identify trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms such as ancient and civilisation. The explicit positioning and teaching of historian’s vocabulary ensures that our children can gather and use historically grounded understanding of difficult terms e.g. ‘legacy’. KS1 and KS2, history is taught as a discrete subject with a new ‘learning project’ each term. Teachers and the Subject Leader plan sequences of learning across the learning units that will build on and develop the children's knowledge and disciplines.
Substantive concepts are identified to best match each project and our disciplinary concepts are ever present. In all cases, we take time to re-visit and repeat key knowledge that is vital to becoming a historian. The knowledge and skills that children will develop throughout each history project are mapped across each year group and across the school to ensure progression and are held together by our subject leader produced medium term plans and short term planning support documents which act as a core spine for the teachers and supporting adults. We are incredibly fortunate to live on the Fylde Coast and its distinctive history, story and unique identity are built within our plans so that the children’s learning in history is enriched greatly by historical studies of their own locality and its highly unique evolution into the place they know today. We therefore make use of the many theatres, buildings and sites locally that allow us to visit the living history in our midst.
Using this rationale, which adheres directly to the National Curriculum, we placed our learning units under the wider banners below to build progressively and logically over seven years.
CHRONOLOGY STUDY starts with a focus upon establishing past and present and how 'things' common to the children's lives and experiences change over time during the Early Years. As the National Curriculum suggests, we then move into a tighter focus of an ASPECT: event, place or people in our chronology work in KS1 - each of which hint at the periods of history to follow in KS2. Then we move into a full chronological story from the Stone Age through to Britain post WW2 from Year 3 onwards. Each flowing, building, comparing and contrasting as they weave across the remaining years.
CIVILISATION STUDY means we have placed three contrasting ancient European and non-European civilisation studies within KS2. Ensuring that over this cycle we allow for consideration and comparison of these wider and differing civilisations.
LOCAL STUDY is a constant feature across seven years. Designed to build out from personal, immediate experiences in Early Years, into St Annes, The Fylde Coast, Blackpool and West Lancashire (across the subsequent six years) and each time gradually building in the importance of tourism and the coastline to its rise and growth alongside the theme of social change and war from the Victorian period onwards in Upper Key Stage 2.
History’s presence is maintained through the central position of History Islands in each classroom, whilst the profile of historical reward, achievement and celebration throughout the school year is maintained via the role of Student Subject Champions, Subject Celebrations and Subject Achievement Displays. Rewards always have a specific eye upon personal progress rather than summative attainment.
History continues via our enrichment, wider curriculum opportunity: The Boot Room which runs during the year.
How We Assess History Learning
The impact of our history curriculum can be seen in the children’s work and responses to learning via: books; notebooks; celebration assemblies; display boards; drama/performance in our ABC Theatre. The detailed planning outlines the main learning objectives and Big Questions that the children will explore and answer during their learning. The opportunity to evaluate and reflect on their learning is planned for regularly to enable the children to see how their learning is progressing through the use of Brain Gym, History Island Recaps & Concept Challenges, Quizzes and Self-Quizzes.
Children’s learning is assessed informally in each lesson and teachers plan responsively for next steps - often using the aforementioned strategies. These activities are also used at the end of a unit and help to provide evidence for summative judgements made using the Key Milestones Assessment Document.
At the end of the year, class teachers use the children’s recorded work and assessments to make a judgement as to whether each child is working at the expected standard.
We use Learning Project Posters to aid memory retention. The most frequently used strategy is our Brain Gym opportunities - which has been devised to hold some of the activities highlighted above but above all else as a planned opportunity for regular review.
How We Adapt Learning, And Record Outcomes, In History
The History Leader has created Short Term Planning Journeys, Project Support Booklets and Knowledge Mats to assist with progression and knowledge in each project. They act as a central support for historical enquiry and aid the teacher’s planning and direction. In turn, these aid the outcomes that we are aiming for and the subsequent measurement of progress in history across each year group.
Our children offer a huge range of daily starting points and school readiness, therefore we have carefully considered ways of demonstrating progress and outcomes and how these must be adaptable to suit the needs of learners and the requirements of the subject. Therefore each subject has its own bespoke way of gathering evidence from learners that are not simply restricted to traditional pupil exercise books - otherwise recording work becomes a barrier to learning rather than a chance to celebrate children’s achievements and specialist skills and knowledge in areas where they may otherwise excel.
In History, children’s work is gathered in:
Individual Exercise Books & History Big Books
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A History Vocabulary
A core Historian’s Glossary has been created for the children across school. The vocabulary is progressive from EYFS onwards and at all times retains vocabulary previously introduced. We have chosen this language based upon the perspective of being a historian considering the broader concepts and skills ahead of ‘project specific terms’. The glossary vocabulary is also present around the History Islands in the learning spaces.
Project based history terminology is highlighted within each unit, whilst short term planning support documents and mats prompt adults to discuss and introduce this new terminology linked to the theme being studied at the appropriate time. It is not expected that this long list is permanently added to the vocabulary of being a historian, although we clearly aspire for the children to hold onto key words/names etc... in order to aid their ability to discuss threads across their studies.
It is expected that the children maintain and use their Historian’s Glossary above all else.
The History Glossary can be downloaded separately in PDF form at the base of the CURRICULUM page (CLICK HERE).
Here are examples of the two kinds of vocabulary we have identified. History Glossary Vocabulary: Artefact, Condition Project Vocabulary: (WW2) Allies, Axis, Neville Chamberlain
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History Enrichment Opportunity:
The Boot Room as part of our beyond hours offer.
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My latest work as History Leader...
1) I have been working extensively to create supporting resources for the teachers and children across school: Project Support Booklets; Planning Journeys; Knowledge Mats.
2) I have also been enhancing the History Islands and leading training on them as tool for knowledge retention.
3) I have also been working hard to update the current long term and medium term planning ensuring progression and coverage is as tight as possible with key learning highlighted within each project.