History
Mrs Vinning
History Intent Statement
At Woodlands, we believe in delivering a History curriculum that will help pupils gain a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We strive to teach children to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups.
History at Woodlands teaches our children:
- To gain a sense of their own social, political and cultural identity.
- To link historical events with real life experiences, by visiting local and national historical places of interest.
- To participate in debates which help them to articulate their opinions, whilst showing respect for others who may have differing views.
- To develop analytical skills can be applied across the curriculum and in the context of the wider world.
- To be inspired to research answers to their own questions about the past.
History implementation statement
History is taught termly and is embedded into the theme that is being taught in each year group. When planning history lessons, teachers identify the key subject knowledge and skills that the children require to become successful historians. They use our assessment descriptors to support them: this ensures that the quality of education the children receive is at least good, it sets high expectations, is aspiration for all pupils and is fully inclusive.
The assessment descriptors cover in detail- the subject knowledge & understanding needed to ensure the national curriculum is covered, the use of sources throughout the school, historical enquirer and chronological understanding relevant to the age of the pupils.
Teachers carefully select artifacts that support the children’s understanding as well as using relevant & varied sources. They are taught from a young age to question the validity of sources and understand the importance of the information we get from them and how this can shape our futures. Within lessons, children are taught to make a ‘judgement’ once they have weighed up the facts and evidence they have looked at and learnt about- they are then expected to explain their reasoning using historically rich vocabulary.
At Woodlands, a cross-curricular ‘themed’ approach to planning is used across all subjects- with clear rationales and contextualised learning to support the children in their lessons. Making ‘links’ (where appropriate) within history and across the curriculum enables the children to remember what they have learnt and build a solid foundation for future topics. Linking the past to the present helps pupils to develop an understanding of the world around them. Woodland’s key drivers are woven throughout the history curriculum.
Learning outside the classroom is embedded across the curriculum. Pupils have the opportunity to visit museums and other places of historical interest that are relevant to the topics they are studying – these are integral to the teaching of history at Woodlands as they give children ‘real life’ experiences as well igniting a passion for history. There are also opportunities to share what the children have learnt across the school and with our families and community.
