The importance of primary history
Studying history enables pupils to discover and make sense of the past, providing opportunities to recognise and comprehend how significant people and events from the past have influenced the present, strengthening pupils’ understanding of how modern life has been shaped and is connected to recent, ancient and early history. This enables pupils to gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the world they live in and how they can also influence their present and future. Through enquiry, pupils develop their research, thinking, organisational and presentational skills: identifying and distinguishing between reliable and biased primary and secondary sources of evidence; evaluating evidence, justifying the conclusions drawn; and presenting a coherent historical narrative, demonstrating a deep knowledge and understanding of the past. Pupils gain a greater knowledge of how people from the past lived, including different cultures within communities and the various beliefs held. This enables pupils to make comparisons to their own world experiences, acknowledging that cultural diversity is still present today and should be embraced.
Our ambition
We aim for children to develop:
- an excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events, and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts and processes
- authenticity and accuracy; children learn about primary sources and secondary sources of information. By analysing primary sources children are encouraged to think deeply as they’ll interpret the meaning, intention and perspective behind the original content. In an age of disinformation this is a crucial skill.
- the ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views, using appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources
- the ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry
- a passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways
- a respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgments
Curriculum
We have an ambitious and engaging history curriculum which is driven by thematic approach to study key events and the lives of significant people. Projects include themes such as ‘Dynamic Dynasties’ and ‘Britain at War’. We study British and world history so that children develop an understanding of both national and global historical themes.
We ensure curriculum coverage by using the Cornerstones Curriculum scheme through specific Geography units but also across across history, science, DT and Art. The scheme provides a secure knowledge rich curriculum, ample opportunities for skill progression and is steeped in a recursive approach; so students are able to embed their knowledge into their long term memory.
More specifically, disciplinary knowledge is developed through focusing on the historical key concepts
- Chronological understanding
- Cultural, ethical and religious diversity
- Change and continuity
- Cause and consequence
- Significance
- Interpretation
Implementation
Foundational to our teaching and learning approach is the focus on quality first teaching. Quality first teaching, refers to high quality, evidence- based teaching practices that prioritise the needs of all students in the classroom. With this in mind, we have high expectations of all our learners we believe that our learners are capable of grappling with important historical questions for example Year 6 were tasked with writing an article considering the question Should the Benin Bronzes be returned? Moreover, educational visits are carefully planned to enhance and engage the students in history topics from the outset. For example, In Year 2/3 when students are learning about Prehistory Through the Ages they visited Pitt Rivers Museum where they studied timelines, gained knowledge on the everyday challenges of life for people living in the Bronze to Iron Age and reflected on different types of evidence for this period. As part of our commitment to quality first teaching our history sessions begin with an opportunity to review and build on previous learning ensuring that any misconceptions are quickly addressed.
An example learning question based on the topic of Vikings in Year 3/4, ‘Lindisfarne: what can we learn about Viking raids from primary sources?’ Knowledge sequence organisers have been developed to ensure learning is sequential. By ensuring all pupils master foundational concepts and knowledge before moving on they can build their confidence and succeed. Further, we recognise the need to scaffold learning so provide definitions of technical vocabulary on Knowledge Sequence Organisers. This supports all learners but is particularly useful to disadvantaged children and those for whom English is an additional language. We use these knowledge sequence organisers as a means of supporting our students to transfer information from their working memory into their long term memory where it can be stored and later retrieved. Knowledge sequence organisers reduce extraneous cognitive load.
The impact of our history curriculum is evaluated through continuous and systematic assessment and monitoring. We use both formative and summative assessment in our sessions. For example, we regularly use mini whiteboards, ABCD cards, open questions and quizzes. We use these methods (and many more!) as a means of addressing misconceptions quickly as well as measuring progress over time. We also assess knowledge at the end of each unit of work. Assessments are shared with parents at parents meetings and through the end of year report.
History is monitored and reviewed by the History subject leader through a systematic range of activities including book monitoring , learning walks, pupil voice and teacher questionnaires. There is a link governor for History who monitors the work of the subject leader.
What our students say about history at St Barnabas
“I loved it when we went to the Ashmolean Museum. I learnt so much about the Shang Dynasty” Year 5 child
“It was Remembrance Day, we were standing in lines, everyone was quiet for 2 two mins and we heard the city church bells and cannon shots from the city. It’s important to remember people who lost their lives to help this country.” Year 5 child
” I liked writing about the book Stone Age Boy, I also loved reading Stig of the Dump. We made our own timelines too.” Year 2 child
“We got to see old toys in our class and they were made of different material.” Year 1 child