History
|
History has always been a subject which we are passionate about at Irlam Primary. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for History; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum that encompasses British Values throughout; ensuring the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to study life in the past. We provide a high quality history curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Our teaching will equip pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and of its global impact. In addition to this theme we will teach pupils to know and understand about significant aspects of the history of the wider world like ancient civilisations and empires. As far as possible we will look at our local area to address changes in living memory. We will also teach pupils about the lives of significant people of the past; understand the methods of historical enquiry and equip them to ask and answer historical questions. Through classroom based topic work, educational visits and workshops our teaching of History will help pupils to understand the process of change, the diversity of others views as well as understanding their own identities and the challenges of our times. Finally, historical narratives offer us stories of humility, courage, wisdom, and—most important—hope. In essence, history teaches us to move forward, recognize our mistakes and learn from them, and ultimately create a better existence for all.
|
At Irlam Primary, these skills are embedded within history lessons and developed throughout their journey of the history curriculum. By the end of their primary education, children will have a chronological understanding of British history from Stone Age to present day. They are able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives. Interlinked with this is the need to look at world history such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Mayans.
The content and principles underpinning the history curriculum are taken from the 2014 National Curriculum. We use the National Curriculum Programmes of study to guide us on the content and focus of each objective to inform our curriculum. These units are enriched by cross curriculum work when appropriate. We will also have access to the Hamilton plans and teachers will be encouraged to look elsewhere for additional material including the on-line resources, which we have purchased, and the History Association, which we are members of. We also encourage a project based approach to learning with an emphasis on people and community in our local area. Children learn through enquiry based learning opportunities to gain a greater understanding of our local area.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) follows the ‘Development Matters in the EYFS’ guidance which aims for all children in reception to have an ‘Understanding of the World; people and communities, the world and technology’ by the end of the academic year.
Teachers, in parallel classes, plan together to create engaging and informative teaching and learning opportunities which take into account prior learning, plan for opportunities for assessment and identify suitable future targets.
Should it become necessary for you to continue your learning at home, perhaps because you are isolating, we will make sure that you have access to appropriate learning materials as far as we are reasonably able to do so. These will be available in your year group home learning area.
At Irlam Primary, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing investigative and enquiry based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on analytical thinking which helps children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world and fires children’s curiosity to know more about the past. Through this study children learn to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.
The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:
- know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological
narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped
this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world - know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of
ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features
of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind - gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as
‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’ - understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and
consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make
connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and
create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses - understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously
to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and
interpretations of the past have been constructed - gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts,
understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international
history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and
between short- and long-term timescales.