History Curriculum Intent

The child is at the very centre of everything we do at Burrough Green. Our history curriculum is built on strong, pedagogical principles, with every single child encouraged and nurtured to meet and achieve their potential. We make it our aim to discover what children are good at and to use this to promote a positive attitude to our history learning.

Our locality is reflected in the history curriculum we deliver as well as a need to prepare children for life in wider Britain and the wider world. They will learn a clear progression of skills and knowledge and links will be made with other subjects where possible – this only helps to link and embed learning. Children need to understand the history of both our country and the wider world.

Our curriculum is both broad and balanced, with opportunities for children to celebrate, share and learn about different cultures, beliefs and diversity. The curriculum content allows pupils to explore through an enquiry-based curriculum where there are no limits to learning and a clear development of skills learnt.’

History Curriculum Implementation

The history curriculum at Burrough Green is based on good quality resources. The history curriculum has been written to give the children the best opportunities to link and embed learning. All subjects’ employ enquiry-based learning and every lesson is built around either a key question or skills-based learning.

The school has written the history curriculum to help reflect not only the locality in which we are situated, but also the diversity of modern day Britain. At Burrough Green, we have a culture of sharing the best practice and ensuring all of our learners have the best possible start in life.

To ensure that all children fully develop as historians, our curriculum is built around the five main history skills in the National Curriculum:

Chronological understanding: ensuring that children understand not only the sequence of events within a history unit, but also how that period in history links chronologically with other key periods in history. For example: showing an awareness and understanding that key events in British history were happening while other civilisations/empires were flourishing.

Historical enquiry: providing children with pupil-sized enquiries so that they actually DO history. This means working with sources in their raw form; asking their own questions; seeking out relevant supporting material; and attempting to draw out their own tentative conclusions from the evidence before them.

Historical interpretation: providing carefully planned opportunities across a key stage for pupils to challenge widely held historical views using a wide range of rich resources and a variety of accounts of the past. This allows children to explore and learn that history is a problem-solving subject and to enable them to have those ‘penny drop’ moments!

Knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past: providing a wealth of opportunities to inspire children’s curiosity to know and understand more about the past. Also ensuring that they develop deep learning across a range of historical periods, significant events and people, and local historical studies.

Organisation and communication: ensuring that children have access to, and a thorough understanding of, historical terms and the key vocabulary within each history unit. Also providing children with direct links to English in order to enable children to organise and communicate their learning and skills in history. For example: when exploring a key question to develop children’s understanding of why events happen, then there are direct links to explanatory writing.

History non-negotiables:

• History skills should be taught when linked to topics and where possible they should ensure real world application.
• The teaching of the core history skills should follow the progression shown in the table below.
• Teachers are to monitor children’s progress during and at the end of each history topic taught.
• They are to monitor against the key skills for their year group and record them.
• Children will be recorded either as: working below, working at, or working above age-related expectations.
• Information will be passed onto the next class teacher.

History Curriculum Impact

In order to monitor the effective teaching and progression of these key history skills across the key stages, a range of measures will be used:

• Pupils, parents and staff are consistently and regularly consulted about the curriculum and the impact it makes.
• The desired outcomes of the curriculum will ensure that pupils are well-rounded students, ready to embark on their high school education. Pupils will have an understanding of what they are good at and will have developed the appropriate skills to face their future challenges.’
• Impact of the History Curriculum: In order to monitor the effective teaching and progression of these key history skills across the key stages, a range of measures will be used:
• Planning scrutiny focusing on the planned sequences of learning and skills across a year group and specific topics on both long-term and medium-term planning.
• Using ‘Comparative Judgements’ across year groups using an assessed piece of work to show depth of understanding and links across history skills – 1 per unit.
• ‘Book looks’ in children’s topic books to find examples of learning showing progression of skills.
• Reviewing and monitoring ‘History Progression of Skills Assessment Matrix’ (see curriculum intent) for each class to ensure that there is sufficient coverage of the key history skills being taught.
• ‘Pupil Perception Interviews’ with a range of children across the school once or twice a year to develop a better understanding of their interests and views on the history curriculum.
• Opportunities for sharing good teaching/activity ideas for the key history skills during staff meetings throughout the school year. The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at Burrough Green are equipped with historical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ‘secondary ready’ and 'for life as an adult in the wider world'.

Cultural Capital Grid

The grid attached matched up with the Curriculum Overview and gives parents suggested visits/trips to help support your child's education. There are many other trips you can research, but most of these are local and easily accessible.

Of course, we will be running school outings to some of these places.