Intent

At Trumps Green Infant School, we believe that history helps children to understand how people, places and ways of life have changed over time. We want every child to develop a fascination with the past and the knowledge, vocabulary and enquiry skills to ask questions, investigate evidence and develop their own understanding of how the past has shaped the world in which they live.

It is our intention that every pupil, regardless of starting point or individual need, develops the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage successfully with history. We have high expectations for all children, including those who are disadvantaged, have SEND, are known or have previously been known to children’s social care, or who face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. Our history curriculum is designed so that all pupils can access the same ambitious curriculum, with appropriate adaptations, support and opportunities to revisit and secure important knowledge. We do not lower our expectations because of a pupil’s starting point or individual circumstances; instead, we provide the teaching, resources and support needed for all pupils to develop their historical understanding.

What we intend pupils to know and do

We intend that pupils develop a secure and increasingly connected body of historical knowledge. They will learn about significant people, events and changes within living memory and beyond living memory, including aspects of local, national and wider world history. They will develop an understanding of how people lived in different periods and how their lives, experiences and circumstances were similar to and different from their own.

Alongside their substantive historical knowledge, pupils will develop the disciplinary skills of historical enquiry. They will learn to ask and answer questions about the past, use appropriate historical vocabulary, place people and events within a developing chronological framework, and identify similarities, differences and changes over time. They will encounter a range of historical sources, including photographs, objects, artefacts, written accounts and oral history, and begin to understand that historians use evidence to find out about the past.

Our curriculum deliberately develops the relationship between historical knowledge, chronology and historical enquiry. Pupils use their growing knowledge of the past to ask increasingly meaningful questions; they use evidence to investigate those questions; and they use what they have learned to explain similarities, differences, changes and significance. In this way, children develop more than a collection of historical facts: they begin to understand how we know about the past and how different pieces of evidence can help us build an understanding of it.

How history develops from Reception to Year 2

Our history curriculum is carefully sequenced from Reception to Year 2, with knowledge, vocabulary and historical skills systematically introduced, practised, revisited and built upon over time. As Year 1 and Year 2 pupils learn together in mixed-age classes, the curriculum is designed so that pupils encounter the same broad historical themes and enquiries while knowledge and skills are revisited and deepened over their time in Key Stage 1.

In Reception, pupils develop the foundations for historical understanding through their experiences of themselves, their families and their communities. Through Understanding the World, they talk about changes in their own lives and the lives of people around them, explore photographs, objects and stories from the past, and begin to use language associated with time and change. They begin to understand that some things happened before they were born and that people may have experienced life differently in the past. These experiences establish the foundations for chronology, comparison and historical enquiry.

Across Years 1 and 2, pupils build on these foundations through a carefully planned sequence of historical topics and enquiries. They develop an increasingly secure understanding of the past and present, chronology, significant people and events, changes over time and the experiences of people in different periods. They learn about aspects of local, national and wider world history and increasingly make connections between different periods and topics.

Within the mixed-age curriculum, pupils revisit key historical concepts and vocabulary at increasing levels of depth. Younger pupils are supported to establish the essential knowledge and skills needed to access the learning, while older or more experienced pupils are expected to draw on previously taught knowledge, make stronger connections, use evidence with greater independence and explain their ideas in greater depth. This ensures that pupils' learning is appropriately challenging while maintaining a coherent curriculum for both year groups.

As pupils progress through Key Stage 1, they increasingly:

· develop and use chronological vocabulary to place people and events in the past;

· recall and connect important historical knowledge from different topics;

· identify similarities, differences, changes and continuity;

· ask increasingly focused questions about the past;

· use a wider range of sources and evidence to investigate historical questions;

· identify examples of primary and secondary sources

· understand that historical accounts can be subjective

· compare information from different sources and recognise that accounts of the past may differ; and

· explain their ideas using increasingly precise historical vocabulary and evidence.

By the end of Year 2, pupils are increasingly able to use their knowledge of the past and evidence from sources together, rather than treating historical facts and enquiry as separate aspects of learning.

History and the wider curriculum

We intend that pupils understand that history is both a subject in its own right and an important way of understanding the world around them. Through history, pupils develop vocabulary, reading, speaking and listening, reasoning and enquiry skills that support learning across the curriculum.

Carefully selected historical stories, sources and texts provide opportunities for pupils to develop their reading and vocabulary while building meaningful background knowledge. Pupils also make connections between history and geography, art, English, science and other areas of learning where these connections deepen their understanding.

We want children to develop an understanding of their own place within a wider historical story. Learning about local, national and wider world history helps pupils recognise that the world has changed over time and that the experiences, achievements and actions of people in the past have contributed to the world they live in today.

Intended end points

By the time children leave Trumps Green Infant School, we intend that pupils will have developed the foundational historical knowledge, chronological understanding, vocabulary and enquiry skills necessary for the next stage of their education.

They will be increasingly confident young historians who can:

· recall key knowledge about significant people, events, places and changes they have studied;

· use common historical vocabulary relating to time, chronology, change and the past;

· place significant people and events they have studied within a simple chronological framework;

· describe and explain some of the ways in which people's lives have changed over time;

· identify similarities and differences between people, places and ways of life in different periods;

· recognise examples of change and continuity within the periods they have studied;

· ask and answer questions about the past using their existing historical knowledge;

· use a range of appropriate sources, including photographs, objects, artefacts, stories and accounts, to find out about the past;

· recognise that sources provide evidence about the past and that information from different sources can be compared and checked;

· communicate what they have learnt about the past through discussion, writing, drawing, timelines and other appropriate forms;

· make connections between historical topics and use previously learnt knowledge to support new learning; and

· demonstrate curiosity about the past and a willingness to ask questions and investigate how we know what happened.

Our history curriculum is therefore designed to ensure that all children make progress from their individual starting points, secure important historical knowledge and vocabulary, develop a growing chronological understanding, and learn how to use evidence and enquiry to make sense of the past.

Implementation

History skills are taught using a range of teaching styles to ensure that the children are engaged and motivated. They are encouraged to think independently and critically, work collaboratively, use a range of enquiry skills, make links with their previous learning, ask questions and conduct their own research.

· The History curriculum is designed to ensure that it provides the progression and coverage that meets the needs of pupils across the school. It is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has already been taught.

· In the Foundation Stage, children are provided with experiences which enable them to develop skills of enquiry and critical thinking. By providing the children with the opportunity to discuss the changes in their own lives and the lives of others, we set the foundations of chronology. This stimulates the children’s curiosity to learn about lives beyond living memory.

· In Years 1 and 2 the foundations developed in the Early Years are built upon. The children are provided with opportunities to develop an understanding of how past events have influenced life today. They learn about events which are significant nationally and globally and how the achievements of individuals has had a significant impact on people in the past and present day.

Impact

Teaching and learning is evaluated by learning walks, drop-ins, moderation sessions, pupil interviews and work scrutinies.

· It is our aim that all children will achieve age-related expectations in History. We intend to embed key concepts in the children’s long-term memory and apply them across the curriculum.

· Children will gain specific key knowledge from each event studied and be able to recall facts they have learnt through enquiry, critical thinking and an understanding that sources may vary and recollections of the past can be verified using additional sources.