History Statement of Intent
“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ” - Michael Crichton
Intent
At St Alban’s Primary school, we recognise the importance of History in many aspects of life. We aim to give the teaching and learning of History a prominent place within our curriculum. We endeavour to provide the children with hands on experience, where possible, in bringing their local history to life and allowing them to experience it for themselves through local visits and the use of artefacts and input from our families and local community. Our History curriculum is centred around enriching the children’s key skills and improving their life experiences and knowledge of why their local area is the way it is now, as well as using the prior learning our diverse children bring with them upon starting with us at St Alban’s Primary School.
At St Alban’s Primary School, in conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, we believe that high-quality history lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past and to think and act as historians. By linking learning to a range of topics, children have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understand chronology, build an overview of Britain’s past as well as that of the wider world, and to be able to communicate historically. We develop children with the following essential characteristics to help them become historians:
- An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts including significant events in Britain’s past;
- The ability to think more critically about history and communicate ideas confidently to others;
- The ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical events from a range of sources;
- The ability to think, reflect, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating questions and lines of enquiry;
- A respect for historical evidence and artefacts and the ability to make use of it to support their learning;
- A desire to embrace activities, including opportunities to undertake research across a range of history topics;
- A developing sense of curiosity about the past and how and why people interpret the past in different ways.
The National Curriculum will provide a structure and skill development for the history curriculum being taught throughout the school, which is now linked, where possible to the themes within other subjects to provide a creative scheme of work, which reflects a balanced programme of study.
What are the attitudes we want to foster?
- To develop self-confidence, self-motivation and independence, which will continue to grow with them.
- Raising aspirations and a commitment to lifelong learning.
- Praise and celebration of the achievements of every child.
- Giving children opportunities to work in co-operation, collaboration and teamwork.
- Caring and respectful individuals who celebrate differences, diversity and core values.
Implementation
Our History curriculum gives pupils the opportunity to develop an understanding of aspects of history from a topic approach. Pupils will continually revisit key historical skills which build and develop during their time at our school. Key and specialist vocabulary for history themes is taught and built up, and effective questioning is both used and encouraged to communicate ideas effectively. We endeavour to ensure that the History curriculum we provide will give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and life experiences. Evidence of history and the development of children’s historical knowledge should be recorded regularly in topic books. History lessons are a balanced mix of knowledge and vocabulary based, observations, enquiry and practical lessons.
Impact
Our History Curriculum is designed with topic plans that contain clearly defined, planned and structured lessons to ensure progression and sequence of knowledge, with ambitious aims for what pupils should know and by when. Assessment of History aims to evaluate progress and attainment in all areas of history education: knowledge, concepts, enquiry and perspective.
The historical knowledge must be assessed through ongoing teacher assessments, and recorded on the skills progression grid once an assessment is complete. Evidence of History and the development of children’s historical knowledge should be recorded regularly in topic books. History lessons are a balanced mix of knowledge and vocabulary based, observations, enquiry and practical lessons.
Our Assessment Policy meets the needs of our pupils, parents, staff and curriculum. The school’s assessment policy outlines how often children are assessed. There are three main forms of assessment in our school:
- Day-to-day formative assessment- to inform teaching on an ongoing basis.
- In-school summative assessment- to understand pupil performance at the end of term of teaching.
- National statutory summative assessment – to understand pupil performance in relation to national expectations.
At St Alban’s, we use assessment to inform our planning and teaching in order provide the best possible education for each and every child. The children are the heart of our school, and want every child to ‘Reach their Personal Best.’
Inspired by God's love, we celebrate our gifts as we learn and grow together