At Park Spring, we have built our History curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive to every child. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for History; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum that ensures the progressive development of historical concepts, skills and knowledge.
Our teaching equips pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world; know and understand about significant aspects of the history of the wider world such as ancient civilisations and empires; changes in living memory and beyond living memory; learn about the lives of significant people of the past; appreciate the history of our local area and the city in which we live; understand the methods of historical enquiry and be able to ask and answer questions showing an understanding of historical terms and vocabulary.
History will help our pupils understand themselves and how the actions of others have influenced the world in which we live in today.
At Park Spring, we aim for a high quality history curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity about Britain’s past and that of the wider world, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of exciting educational visits and inspiring visitors to school.
History is taught through dedicated lessons, with cross-curricular links made where appropriate to further embed pupils understanding.
HISTORY Units of Work FInalEYFS focus on the Past and Present and introduced to the concept of chronology through the study of their own lives and that of their parents’ and grandparents’ lives. They explore books and objects as sources of evidence.
Reception sorted toys (old and new) on a timeline from ‘before’ and ‘after’ they were born.
In KS1, pupils are introduced to the concepts of:
These concepts are introduced through significant people, places and events within living memory – with links to their local area of Pudsey and Bramley – and then beyond.
History is taught in a chronological order from KS2 to ensure pupils are able to make connections and draw contrasts between civilisations and identify trends in history overtime.
Threads of Knowledge
Each topic is introduced through an enquiry question which allows pupils to explore the following key driving themes:
These themes are introduced from EYFS in an age-appropriate way, but the knowledge around them is revisited and progressively builds to become more in depth and complex from KS1 through to KS2.
As the National Curriculum outlines, pupils will ‘ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement’. Pupils are then able to revisit their topic enquiry question and provide an answer with reasoning.
Children are provided with many opportunities to check what knowledge they have learned and remembered. Topics begin with a pre-assessment task, then each lesson with a selection of questions, known as the ‘Super 6’. These 6 questions allow children to reflect on the knowledge taught in the previous lesson, topic and year group’s topic. See Year 1 example below:
Year 1 Super 6 QuestionsKnowledge organisers are provided for each unit to highlight key vocabulary and knowledge for children to refer to throughout their learning journey.
Y6 WW2 (5)
Children demonstrate their learning from the topic in a post assessment task which checks pupils’ knowledge of, not only historical knowledge, but concepts which allow children to practise being an historian. See Year 3 example below:
Y3 - Stone Age to Iron Age (1)
Children will leave Park Spring being knowledgeable about key people, events and time periods from the past and will weave these together to form informed, overarching historical narratives.
PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_History
Diversity in our History Curriculum
We take pride in celebrating Black History Month and ensure the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups are studied within our curriculum (follow link below)
Diversity in our History Curriculum