Our subject ambassadors are: Benji Y6 and Emily Y5

Abbey Gates History Subject Offer

“The more you know about history, the better prepared you are for the future.” Theodore Roosevelt

Intent

It is our intention that our History curriculum offer is uniquely designed for our school. History plays a vital role in our understanding of the world around us, our place in it and our aspirations for the future. We want the children to appreciate where they have lived and grown up, the historical value of the area, and its place in the wider world. We then want to extend this to knowledge and understanding to major local, national and international events that have shaped the world we live in today.  It is therefore, imperative that we teach a diverse history curriculum, filled with opportunities to explore and understand a wide range of communities and examine how they impact our possibilities for the future. We aim to do this through our Equip, Embed and Enrich philosophy.

EQUIP

We are aiming to equip our future historians with the history skills and knowledge needed to critically analyse and assess historical information. We want all the children to be interested in history, ask critical questions, discuss historical themes and ideas and understand how it will impact our futures.

EMBED

Once suitably equipped we aim to embed this through a challenging curriculum delivered through high quality teaching and learning opportunities. We want the children to understand how they fit into chronology, beginning by looking at themselves and their own chronology and then moving through school examining major events that have shaped the world we live in today.

EXTEND

To provide stretch and challenge for all learners. We aim to never place a limit on children's learning. 

ENRICH

Furthermore, it is our intent to provide our pupils with a rich and broad cultural capital through purposeful enrichment opportunities to achieve excellence for all. We want to enrich their learning through trips and experiences that deepen understanding, extend learning and make history come alive. We want the children to be ‘critical thinkers’ and ask why and how things happened. The children should learn how to debate major events and use sources to make informed decisions and reasons about how and why things happened.

Implement

At Abbey Gates we believe that nothing has been learnt until it is in the long term memory and that memory is the residue of thought. Teaching staff are provided with the resources and CPD they need to equip children with key skills and ‘sticky knowledge’ and to embed these, thus accomplishing our intent of excellence for all. Key skills and knowledge are revisited within each year and across year groups. Curriculum mapping can be found in the subject leader file. Progression is mapped out across year groups from EYFS through to year 6. Sequences of lessons are planned using progression mapping within and across year groups. Carefully considered key questions inspire active learning and challenge for all. Opportunities for applying generic skills are identified in our medium term plans, for example writing, oracy, reading and maths.

In the Spring Term, pupils are introduced to a ‘DISCOVER’ project, with a carefully considered ‘BIG QUESTION’. This is a focused opportunity for our children to learn and apply historical knowledge and skills to broaden their thinking. Our curriculum drivers: possibilities, diversity and initiative are threaded through our History planning to realise our intent. For example, our project mats outline the possibilities of careers that would involve historical knowledge and content, which our children can relate to. We invite people, who are experts in the field of history, to visit school to inspire, engage and excite our pupils. Carefully considered questions influenced by P4C to introduce History projects ensure children have the opportunity to use their initiative to lead both learning and project outcomes.

Our history teaching encompasses 3 key areas, that we want the children to be confident in to become excellent historians. These are:

Historical Knowledge: Constructing and sequencing the past.

Historical Concepts: Change and development, cause and effect, significance and interpretations.

Historical Enquiry: Planning and Carrying out historical enquiry and using sources as evidence.

We believe these 3 key areas will support all the children in their future learning.

Impact

The impact of our History offer is measured through our comprehensive monitoring cycle, which includes book looks, learning walks, pupil voice, planning scrutiny and curriculum intent reviews. Upon review, the subject team feed development points into an action plan for improvement, which leaders from each phase will then take back to their teams. We assess and track History against Benchmark Standards in each phase. In assessing, we are looking for sustained mastery, greater depth, inspired learners and children who are fulfilling their potential.

The intended impact of our History curriculum offer is intended to ensure our children have:

· An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events, and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts and processes.
· The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
· The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
· The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
· A passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways.
· A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgments.
· A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics.