History

“Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples. According to the number of the sons of Israel…”

Deuteronomy 32:7-9

History Intent

Our history curriculum aims to inspire our pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Our children are not just learners – they are historians and we ignite pupils’ curiosity and fascination about the history of our school, our local area, Britain and of the wider world, in turn deepening their sense of chronology.

We encourage our students to think, act and speak like those working in a historical field would: to research thoroughly, to weigh-up evidence, to understand chronology, to evaluate interpretations and develop arguments: skills which are invaluable to their future lives in education and beyond. Our carefully structured history curriculum provides opportunities to build cultural capital and, through exposure in history lessons to life-skills such as British Values, tolerance and empathy to enable pupils to become well-rounded members of society in preparation for later life.

History Implementation

Through our in-depth and carefully sequenced lessons, pupils’ historical skills and concepts are transferable to whichever period of History is being studied and will equip pupils for both their future learning and future life.

At Holy Family we use the Kapow History scheme of work. This enables pupils to meet the end of Key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum and the aims also align with those set out in the National Curriculum.

Over the course of the scheme, children develop their understanding through key disciplinary concepts, contributing to the development of secure ‘historical knowledge’. These are as follows:

These concepts will be encountered in different contexts during the study of local, British and world history. Accordingly, children will have varied opportunities to learn how historians use these skills to analyse the past and make judgements. They will confidently develop and use their own historical skill set. As children progress through the Kapow scheme, they will create their own historical enquiries to study using sources and the skills they have developed.

Substantive concepts such as power, trade, invasion and settlement, are introduced in Key stage 1,clearly identified in Lower key stage 2 and revisited in Upper key stage 2 (see Progression of skills and knowledge) allowing knowledge of these key concepts to grow. These concepts are returned to in different contexts, meaning that pupils begin to develop an understanding of these abstract themes which are crucial to their future learning in History. Development of history-specific vocabulary is integrated into each topic.

History Impact

Our pupils leave Holy Family Catholic Primary School with the knowledge to think like a historian, act like a historian and speak like a historian through developing;

An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events, and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts.
The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detailed, 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 judgements.