History

Intent
History fires pupils’ curiosity to ask questions and know more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Pupils should be encouraged to develop a chronological framework of British history that will enable them to make sense of the new knowledge they acquire. This will also allow them to understand the process of change, to see how we arrived ‘here’ and help them to make sense of the present. We want pupils to realise that the past has happened and that it is constructed and contested. They should understand the events and arguments within their historical studies to be able to analyse and question human motivation and societies with skill and confidence.
Implementation
Within our school, our curriculum enables children to build skills and knowledge as historians, regardless of their background, ability and needs.
Through teaching the National Curriculum, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression, we provide opportunities for skills and knowledge to be built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all children. It is important that the children develop the progressive skills of a historian throughout their time at Fenstanton and Hilton and do not just learn a series of facts about the past. In History, pupils at Fenstanton and Hilton, find evidence, weigh it up and reach their own conclusion. To do this successfully, as historians, they need to be able to research, interpret evidence, including primary and secondary sources and have the necessary skills to argue for their point of view; a skill that will help them in their adult life.
Impact
By the end of their time at Fenstanton and Hilton Primary school children should be confident and inquisitive in their understanding of historical concepts, being able to;
● Use timelines confidently to place events, periods, cultural movements and demonstrate changes and developments in culture, technology, region and society.
● Be able to use key periods as reference points to understand historical concepts.
● To be confident to ask questions when assessing sources of evidence so they can identify what is relevant/irrelevant or correct or incorrect.
● Able to understand how sources of information can change throughout time.
● Be able to describe similarities and differences between people, events and objects studied in a range of periods and make links between features of the past and current societies.
● To be able to understand that historical events have been represented in different ways through different time-periods. Using plausible reasons to justify and identify the variety of ways they have been identified.