History

History is the study of the past and helps us to shape the future.  At Godstone Primary and Nursery School we use David Weatherley’s Connected Curriculum to inspire the children’s curiosity through enquiry-led learning.

Intent

• Have access to a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated history curriculum by fulfilling the Educational Programmes and National Curriculum for history through engaging enquiry based lessons.
• To ensure that children have access to a high quality curriculum for history with experiential learning experiences.
• To ensure that children understand the concept of chronology and how we can develop each child to become a chronological thinker.
• To develop the children’s understanding and use of historical vocabulary.
• To provide the children with a set of skills, which they can apply to other subjects as they progress through the education system and into society as citizens.
• To enrich each child’s cultural capital through high quality teaching and fostering an interest in and understanding of history.
• To provide children with a pedagogy that is supportive and engaging and that will allow each child to make progress in history.

 

Implementation

• Following David Weatherly’s conference, a new scheme was introduced and embedded in the curriculum in September 2021 across Year 1 through to Year 6.
• To monitor assessment linked to the enquiry skills.
• Planning from Connected History, taught in three half-termly units in KS1 and KS2.
• The EYFS includes historical skills and knowledge through Understanding the World and across the curriculum e.g. in Literacy and PSED.
• A variety of teaching and learning styles are used in history lessons, including discussions, presentations, representations, diagrams and images, research, visits, speakers, ICT and fieldwork.
• Visits, visitors and first hand experiences that promote curiosity and provide children with key knowledge on a range of topics.
• Use of knowledge organisers to help support new vocabulary and commit selected knowledge to children’s long-term memory.

 

Impact

• Connected History will provide all children with meaningful learning experiences that contribute to their cultural capital and understanding of events from the past and the impact that may have for the future.
• Improvement in children’s se and understanding of historical vocabulary.
• Use knowledge organisers to ensure that subject content and vocabulary is committed to their long-term memory.
• Clear and accurate assessment for history across KS1 and KS2 using the assessment tracker.
• Opportunities for developing teachers’ pedagogy and subject knowledge through the planning and resources provided.
• Providing children with a set of skills to embed a lifelong love of learning.
• Children have a contextual understanding of the past and how this has had an impact on the future.
• Teaching children new vocabulary to enable them to read further and encourage life skills in the future.