History Curriculum Statement
Curriculum Intent
At Humberstone Infant and Junior Academies, our intention is to develop highly knowledgeable and confident young historians. History at Humberstone is designed to go beyond the scope of the National Curriculum, to develop children’s knowledge through a rich and meticulous curriculum plan where substantive and disciplinary knowledge are deliberately and carefully integrated throughout. History progression across the Academy enables all children to learn about and be inspired by the complexity of people’s lives and events within their own locality and beyond, to include Britain’s past and that of the wider world. The History curriculum provides diverse and inclusive opportunities that are challenging but accessible for all children, regardless of their ability, understanding or starting point. With carefully planned working historically objectives, all children will understand the discipline of a Historian by developing their knowledge of historical enquiry and interpretation. Planned opportunities working with and beyond our local community, allows all children to expand their cultural capital and question the lasting legacy History holds today.
Our History curriculum is driven by carefully planned and sequenced essential knowledge, which is made clear in each project, and builds on prior knowledge through substantive concepts including: Past and Present, Power, Civilisation, War, Monarchy, Settlement and Trade. Repetition and review of these concepts allows children to build schema and embed their knowledge, exploring historical similarities and differences within and across time. Each project is driven by the development of Chronology, Interpretation and Enquiry through defined Working Historically objectives, to embed disciplinary concepts including: Change and Continuity, Similarity and Difference, Causation and Historical Significance. Within each project, children’s Historical vocabulary is clearly defined and taught explicitly, supporting children to have a high command of historical terminology and communication. This ensures children can articulate their knowledge and are able to communicate and debate alongside historians.
By the end of EYFS, all children will have laid the foundations of their early historical schemas. They continuously develop and embed their chronological understanding through opportunities to observe and compare the past and present. This builds throughout the year, beginning with generational knowledge of their family, to comparing objects and events from the past, exploring significant people and their lives, such as Amelia Earhart and Ernest Shackleton, and finally exploring the concept of Monarchy through their study on the royal family in the Summer Term. This ensures the children are well prepared for KS1, owing to the time spent laying the foundations of the substantive concepts of Past and Present and Monarchy, as well as the disciplinary knowledge on Chronology, Similarity and Difference and Significance. Children enter Key Stage 1 with knowledge that they can directly link to and develop through the Key Stage 1 curriculum.
By the end of Key Stage 1, all children have built upon their historical schemas through carefully planned history projects and essential knowledge. Projects are designed to build on the substantive concepts of Monarchy and Past and Present, whilst introducing new concepts such as War, Power, Trade and Civilisation. Children’s chronological knowledge is embedded as they explore a range of significant events and historical figures within and beyond their living memory. Children build their disciplinary knowledge through their work on historical events and figures both within their own locality and beyond. This ensures all children are well prepared for Key Stage 2, through the breadth of history studied and the scope of opportunities available to them.
By the end of Key Stage 2, all children leave Humberstone with an impressive command of historical knowledge, organised and embedded through substantive and disciplinary concepts. All children explore the discipline of a historian, supported by completing carefully chosen case studies, throughout the academy, on historians such as Kathleen Kenyan, Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon and Phillippa Langley. They are well prepared for Key Stage 3 owing to their embedded mental timelines and ability to analyse history through various historical narratives. Through experiences where children are able to question and liaise with historians, the children leave Humerberstone as highly knowledgeable and confident young historians who can contribute and articulate themselves within the field.
Implementation
Our History curriculum focuses on progressive knowledge and vocabulary across the school and is primarily delivered through carefully planned projects. Each project allows the children to understand significant events, people and civilisations, by organising and connecting children’s knowledge through substantive concepts. These carefully planned History-focussed projects answer a challenging and thought-provoking driving question, which provides an authentic and deliberate lens in which to view History and Historical enquiry.
Prior knowledge is made clear in each project to ensure that children are retrieving and utilising previous learning, in order to build their Historical schema and embed their knowledge to their long term memory. This builds into explicit and deliberate knowledge defined for each project, as well as working historically objectives, which are clearly and rigorously planned to allow a deep understanding of the work of a historian. Historical knowledge is developed through working alongside adult experts, visits to museums, and historical sites, such as the remains of Bradgate Park or Leicester’s Roman ruins including Jewry Wall, and undertaking interviews of historians or those significant to their projects. Additionally, children engage with historical texts which are defined within the curriculum plan to ensure pupils are confident when engaging with historical narratives and vocabulary, in order to readily learn new words and concepts through reading or hearing texts. For example, in Early Years, pupils read or hear stories which introduce the past, historical figures or concepts, such as monarchy, in both fiction and non-fiction. This continues into Key Stage 1 and 2 where children listen to stories as well engage with Non-Fiction texts as a form of research and study. Consequently, children continuously apply subject specific vocabulary through reading and then regular opportunities to voice and justify their individual and growing perspectives and knowledge.
Each project works towards a carefully planned, high quality final outcome that demonstrates the depth and application of subject knowledge for each child. This ranges from curating their own Toy Museums, creating historically accurate models of architecture during The Great Fire of London exhibited at the Guildhall, leading a walking tour delivered to the public of the Roman sites of Leicester, art work demonstrating historical knowledge of Richard III exhibited at the Richard III Visitors Centre, and historical podcasts on the impact Ancient Greece has had on Modern Britain used by Leicester Museums & Galleries.
The embedding of Historical narratives is supported through the use of interactive timelines displayed in each classroom, whereby children can contextualise the periods they study across time, and build on their understanding of World History throughout the curriculum. The classroom timelines provide the means for children to continuously build their understanding of chronology and their mental timelines and secure chronological frameworks, further supported by timelines to refer to in their books with key ‘historical markers’ relevant to the projects they will study throughout the key stage. This is supported by working timelines in each project, which plot key events within time (the life of a ruler or sequence of events for example), to build a sense of period.
As well as these History-focused projects, children’s Historical knowledge is reviewed and applied across the curriculum, in order to continuously build their schema. In English, through studying literature including the Tiger Who Came to Tea in Year 1, Journey to Jo’burg in Year 3, Street Child in Year 4 and The Highwayman in Year 6, all children explore the Historical contexts of place and time in which texts are written and set, to gain a contextual understanding of the text and author studied. Community Circles are used as an opportunity to explore and delve into key historical moments throughout the year, such as Remembrance Day, Black History Month and Women’s History Month.
Impact
Monitoring and assessment of the History curriculum is a continuous process, whereby teachers assess the progressive knowledge of events and societies, important concepts, chronological frameworks and disciplinary knowledge in order to ensure progress for all. Assessment is underpinned by the use of detailed project rubrics, specific to each project, which breaks down the essential knowledge and working Historically objectives. This is used by the teachers to ensure learning addresses misconceptions and gaps in knowledge, and informs planning, marking and questioning of pupils, to ensure knowledge defined is committed to long-term memory. It is also a tool used by the pupils, to encourage self and peer assessment throughout the project.
Regular reviews of each child’s Project book enable the subject leader and Senior Leadership Team to assess progression through the history curriculum. Specific feedback is provided to individual staff and teams, pinpointing areas that require development. These reviews particularly focus on specific groups of children such as disadvantaged pupils and those with Special Educational Needs, to ensure progression for all.
As a result of an effectively sequenced and well taught curriculum, by the end of EYFS monitoring shows that children are able to articulate comparisons between the past and the present, using the vocabulary stated on the curriculum map. Children leave Key Stage 1 with an impressive chronological understanding of within and beyond living memory, an in-depth understanding of essential knowledge, and are able to organise and build links within and across time through substantive and disciplinary concepts. By the end of Key Stage 2, monitoring shows that children know and remember more History content as identified in the History route map, and develop their understanding of History as a discipline. Pupil voice demonstrates that children feel inspired and curious about the lives of those who came before them and the significance historical events can still have today. They have secure mental timelines and understanding of historical narratives, which enable them to explore and compare across time, as well as a good command of subject-specific vocabulary, in order to articulate their knowledge and their perspectives of historians, who are well prepared for Key Stage 3 and beyond.
The impact of our History curriculum and teaching is further measured through learning walks, which focus on high quality of teaching and learning, depth of subject knowledge and purposeful opportunities for application. Additionally, weekly Project Tuning meetings allow each year group to analyse planning sequences, ensuring learning is rigorous, History-focussed, and that the teaching of substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge is meticulously integrated. Crucially, pupil voice and pupil outcomes allow the children to play a part in sculpting their own historical perspectives, which drives their curiosity and underpins their individual standpoint as young historians.