Intent
In our holy family, we all thrive socially, academically and spiritually to our fullest potential.
Understanding and studying history helps children to understand their place in the world, and how events in the past made things the way they are today. Academically our curriculum challenges pupils to make sense of the similarities and differences in human experiences across time and place. We strive within our curriculum to inspire children through curiosity to know more about the past so that they can use this knowledge to help them shape the future.
Implementation
In History pupils are introduced to a wide range of topics within the medium term plans, which are clearly linked to the RED themes each half term. Each year in the Autumn 1 children learn about their local area and the community in which they live. Teachers have the flexibility to teach the units in a way that suits their timetable and the needs of the class, whether through individual lessons across a few weeks or blocked into longer sessions.It is expected that sequences of lesson within the slides mirror the MT plan that has been produced and shared by the coordinator. The slides should be stored centrally in the curriculum folder for Geography and History. A memory quiz should take place at the start of each lesson. This could be linked to ANY area of learning previously taught within Geography or History.The memory quiz should be followed with the knowledge organiser, recapping the chronology for the unit and a recap of the location of the area of study. The knowledge organisers are colour coded per year group and the vocabulary has been carefully planned to reduce the cognitive load for children.
The lessons content is shared through slides with include the LI, the LI is taken from the MT plans. Within lessons models and WAGOLL’s may sometimes be used where appropriate including clips and online media links. Opportunities should be provided for the children to work in a variety of ways including TP’s, whiteboards, group work, outdoor education, fieldwork and residentials. Work in History no longer requires the LI at the start of each new piece of work. The LI’s are present on a assessment grid provided by the co-ordinator, which also forms the MT planning. Work should be marked on the grid following the whole school marking policy, this will in turn form assessment judgements and planning adaptations.
It should be clear from the slides how children are going to be able to meet the LI, therefore there is no separate sequence required. If the slides do not clearly show the progression that the coordinator will ask that a separate sequence planning document is completed to ensure this. From September 2025, only the slide format provided by the lead should be used. This has changed due to the success of the RE curriculum and it’s impact across school. There is no expectation for a set number of pieces of work within History, however opportunities must be provided to meet the LI’s set out within the MT planning as these must be clear within slides and evidenced within books and the class story book. For example a session outdoors or a school visit would have a photo in the class book, this does not need to be stuck in every book. Each half term the children must start a new unit of work linked to RED. Carrying work over isn’t ideal as this then leads to a delay within the new curriculum and learning starting.
The high expectations in English books should be seen across the History books. The books should look very similar to each other. Each unit of work in History must start with the knowledge organiser, assessment grid and world / local map to show the location of where the children are learning about. This can then be referred back to as part of the teaching slides. There is no set expectation for a History display within the classroom, this reduces cognitive load. Photographs and work shared on display may or may not reflect recent work in History. There is a standardised timeline which mirror the whole school corridor timeline. Opportunities should be taken to highlight these as often as possible.
