History

Intent

The Bowland Federation of schools believe that History should be an investigative subject that asks children to 'tell me more...' about key people, events and periods of history. Our schools aim to deliver a History curriculum that inspires curiosity and creativity. We want children to be enthused and eager to learn more about the people, places and events that have shaped our lives today.

Implementation 

Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure children revisit and deepen their understanding and application of substantive concepts and disciplinary skills. As a federation, we aim to ensure children are not just recipients of historical knowledge but that they are given the chance to discover it for themselves through artefact studies, source analysis, independent enquiry and exploration.

In EYFS, children become familiar with historical vocabulary such as ‘present’ and ‘past’ and start their journey as a historian. They explore photographs, stories and take part in historical visits with our KS1 children to enthuse them about the what, why, when and how of history. In KS1 and KS2, children are introduced to their topics with an artefact study that sparks curiosity about what they could be learning. When they discover the time in history they are exploring, they are given their historical enquiry question that they will formulate an answer to by piecing together the knowledge and skills they gain throughout the unit. Each child is given the opportunity to showcase their skills and knowledge at various points throughout a unit through discussion, cross-curricular writing, claim and support lessons, independent and group projects and teacher formative assessment.

Impact

As a result of our history curriculum, children are engaged and curious about the past and are happy to discuss what they know and how they know it. Children within our federation know, remember and do more with their knowledge and showcase this in their work in school as well as in their interest in the subject at home, completing home learning challenges and conducting their own research. When our children leave us, they can discuss chronology of history, important people and key events and think about what their significance means for us in the present. 

We start every History lesson with a revisiting activity to help our children know more, remember more and make links between prior learning and new content. We revisit our learning as a class, with our talk partners and independently and in a variety of ways. 

We also take part in 'revisiting week' in school which gives children the opportunity to connect their learning in History with other subjects in school. During this week, children from each of our classes get the chance to explore learning in the other classes in school. This gives our children the chance to showcase learning and revisit learning from previous years or gain a pre-teach for learning to come! 

Nicky Nook Revisit Leadership in Ancient Athens

In one of their Ancient Greek leadership lessons, Nicky Nook class learnt the myth of Athena, Poseidon and Zeus and then thought about what it could tell them about the leadership of Ancient Athens. In their next lesson, they revisited their learning using some thought-provoking questions! 

Do you agree with the decision Zeus made? 

"Yes because Athena chose an olive tree that can provide food, olive oil, wood and shade so was the most useful." 

"We agree with the decision Zeus made but if there were more of a choice we would pick somebody else." 

Is knowledge more important than power? 

"Yes because wisdom is something you need. Power is something you want." 

"Knowledge is more important than power because if you are very powerful but don't know how to use it, you are truly powerless."

Grizedale Class Revisit Leadership during the British Rebellion to the Roman Empire

After their claim, support, question lesson, Grizedale class started to think about what might have happened to Boudicca and why they thought it. They also thought about what sort of person might have a statue built of them. It sparked an excellent discussion about whether or not a statue has to be of somebody that has done good things. 

What was she like? 

"I think she was the leader of an army because her hands look like they are commanding a group,"

"I think she was proud because of how she is stood,"

What do you think happened to her? 

"I think she died of old age and the statue is built to remind us of her," 

"I think she died in battle because of how she is stood in the statue,"

What sort of person has a statue built of them?

"A vain person,"

"Somebody special," 

We assess learning in History at the end of every lesson using formative assessment like low-stakes quizzing, 'big thinking' tasks and lots of discussion. At the end of each unit, our children get the chance to showcase their learning in the topic and to answer their key enquiry question. 

Nicky Nook Showcase their Learning about Ancient Greece

Grizedale Class Showcase their Learning About Boudicca