History

Intent

At Chater Junior School we want our pupils to have an appreciation of human history and to recognise and learn from what has happened in the past. We recognise how important British History is to our pupils, but we also seek to expose them to history from different cultures and civilisation. As our pupils progress, they will become equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. We want pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

History Curriculum Map

Implementation

At Chater JM School, we ensure that our history planning follows a clear progression of skills and ensures that there is full coverage of, ‘The National Curriculum programmes of study for History 2014’. The curriculum is adapted and extended to match all pupils’ needs and builds upon their prior knowledge and skills. Where possible, History is linked to other subjects to support children in developing links between subject areas. History is taught as discrete units and lessons where needed to ensure coverage.

 Before teaching each unit teachers will:

• - Create a Big Question, which the pupils will answer at the end of the unit.
• - Assess children’s prior knowledge and skills and use this to ensure their planning builds upon this.
• - Plan opportunities to develop enquiry skills by asking historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and the significance of events.

 During each unit teachers will:

• - Ensure each lesson has a key question that children will be able to answer through their work and will help them answer the Big Question.
• - At the beginning of each new history topic, teachers refer to classroom timelines to develop children’s understanding of chronology. Each topic is introduced with reference to the chronology of previous topics (including those from previous years).
• - Pupils will be given the opportunity draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives. Interlinked with this are studies of world history, such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Egyptians.
• - Pupils will be given the opportunity to understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.
• - Key historical figures are frequently mentioned and studied, their lasting impact is considered and analysed.
• - Children are provided with knowledge organisers at the start of a unit to provide key information they will need to refer back to.
• - Develop the pupil’s use of historical language highlighting new vocabulary to pupils and displaying it in the classroom for them to use in future lessons.
• - Provide pupils’ with opportunities to make links and use knowledge from other subjects, in particular extended writing opportunities.
• - Provide pupils’ with opportunities develop their enquiry through analysing primary and secondary sources.
• - Key knowledge is reviewed by the children and rigorously checked and consolidated by the teacher.

 At the end of each unit pupils will:

• - Answer the Big Question in a piece of work or writing. This could include but is not limited to presenting the information in non-chronological report, poster or newspaper report.
• - Self-assess their understanding of the unit and reflect on the enquiry skills they have used.

After each unit teachers will:

• - Asses pupils’ understanding and knowledge of the unit

Impact

What will this look like?

Through pupil voice we will see:

• - Pupils explain the chronology of History, identifying significant events and their impact on the world.
• - Pupils make links across History that they have learnt in their time at Chater.
• - Pupils express their passion for History by talking enthusiastically about their learning and sharing their knowledge and understanding.

Through learning walks we will see:

• - Pupils engagement with sources and asking historical enquiry questions.
• - Pupils demonstrating their love of History through their high levels of engagement.
• - Pupils discussing their learning and explain how it links to previous lessons.
• - A clear sequence of lessons that allow pupils to acquire knowledge and use this to answer their big questions.

In the pupil’s learning we will see:

• - Pupils evaluate sources taking into account historical bias and make reasoned judgements.
• - Pupils describing how past events have affected our present lives.
• - Pupils using knowledge and skills from other subjects to support their learning.
• - Take pride in their learning and present work of a high standard.
• - Differentiated activities that allow all pupils to make progress.
• - A clear sequence of lessons that are linked to the big question.
• - A piece of work that answers the big question and demonstrates pupil’s understanding of the unit.