History
Our expert, who ensures History strategies are linked across the school-age groups is Mrs Jeffers.
Intent:
Through History, our children will develop the foundation of chronology, which is embedded in learning about significant people and events that have shaped our locality and world. Our teaching ensures our children reflect, compare, and think critically to understand the past. With their increasing oracy skills, our children develop a sense of perspective and judgement, which scaffolds their reasoning skills when considering causes and consequences
Childhood is a time of great natural inquisitiveness, a time where children begin to develop a sense of how and why the world is as it is. It is also a time where we experience the wonder of the world first hand. At Carlton Primary School, we believe that History performs an integral role when empowering learners to become active, engaged and informed citizens who will be able to change the world as they see fit. Furthermore, quality engagement with History can bolster and enrich progress in core subjects by encouraging discussion, provoking thought and stimulating curiosity.
History gives children a strong foundation for understanding key concepts such as time and place, developing a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant people and events. It also enables children to develop skills in procuring and weighing evidence, critical thinking, sifting arguments and developing perspective and judgement.
This rationale compels all of us at Carlton to provide deep, high quality learning.
Implementation:
Underpinned by the National Curriculum, we designed our own bespoke Carlton History curriculum, History is taught in a practical, immersive way giving experience to our children making lessons fun and memorable which we take pride in. We carefully considered a curriculum that provides our children with the knowledge and cultural capital needed to succeed in later life. We ensure the progression of skills is scaffolded with Knowledge organisers, working walls, vocabulary lists, Historian visitors and trips, our children are taken on a journey of identity. We use rocket retrieval to revisit learning ensuring key learning is retained. Children at Carlton can speak as a 'historian' and clearly understand why history is taught. Our history curriculum is progressive, and the key knowledge and skills that children acquire and develop throughout each topic have been carefully mapped out. Throughout school, at the beginning of each topic, the children engage in a ‘hook’ lesson which captures their interest and imagination. We also use this as a source of assessment to gauge any prior knowledge. History learning begins in Early Years, where children gain further understanding of history within their own lives, learning about traditions and festivals celebrated around the world and within their families. By the end of Year 6, children will have a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. They are able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives. The school’s local context is also considered, with opportunities to study the local history which is carefully woven into topics throughout their progression at Carlton as well as standalone topics such as ‘How has our local area evolved since 1876?’
Areas of study:
Assessment
- Short-term assessments aim to assess the children’s learning on a lesson by lesson basis and are key to our curriculum. Each class has an assessment grid at the front of their History books which are used and assessed each week after the lesson. We make these judgments by observations of groups, analysis of whole class feedback, the marking of work or short tests, either in written or oral form. Teachers often then note informal assessment data onto their plans.
- At the end of a unit of work, formal assessment data is completed using Arbor which highlights those children who are expected, working towards and greater depth.
- Long-term assessments assess our children against national expectations. These are summative judgements made by the class teacher based on the data that is inputted on Arbor throughout the year. These are used to provide extra information about individual children’s attainment and progress so that the teacher can report to the next teacher and the child’s parent.
Monitoring
There is an ongoing system of monitoring which takes place throughout the academic year during given subject leadership time. The focus of this monitoring is linked to the school development plan and whole school development priorities. Monitoring focuses specifically on the teaching and learning of history and includes: classroom observations, discussions with staff and pupils, looking at planning and examples of children’s work (books) and collecting pupil voice. The results of monitoring inform next steps and subsequent action planning, and are noted on the subject leaders ‘subject on a page’ which is completed at the end of each term.
Impact:
By understanding the past lives of significant people and events locally and globally and how this impacts their lives now children are taken on a journey of discovery of themselves and others. Through the learning opportunities, children are able to express and articulate the human condition by making links and comparing civilizations through time.
Lessons are planned to ensure that key knowledge is developed over time over the course of each History topic. Key knowledge is reviewed by the children and rigorously checked and consolidated by the teacher during ‘rocket retrieval’ at the start of every lesson as well as the plenary ‘Today as a Historian…’ Teachers then use the assessment grid in History books to monitor progress after each lesson. At the end of each unit of work, this informs teachers' judgement as part of the summative assessment process.
Children at Carlton are excited and enthusiastic about their history learning and confidently talk as ‘as historians’. Children believe that they are good historians and ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. Our children are analytical thinkers who ask inquisitive questions about their local area, political landscape and understand the key cornerstones of Britain’s history. Children are exposed to high quality teaching, designed to captivate and stimulate their curiosity.
Course Outline
During History at Carlton, children start learning about ways that we can find out about the past, through to understanding how to identify significant events, make connections, draw contrasts, and analyse historical trends.