History 

The History Coordinator is Miss Hallwood.

Intent

At Kirk Smeaton, our teaching of history aims to develop historical skills and concepts which are transferable to whatever period of history is being studied and will equip children for future learning. These key historical skills and concepts include: Historical Interpretations; Historical Investigations; Chronological Understanding; Knowledge and Understanding of Events, People and Changes in the Past; Presenting, Organising and Communicating.

The coverage of recent history in KS1 such as ‘Toys’ enables children to acquire an understanding of time, events and people in their memory and their parents’ and grandparents’ memories. The intent in lower KS2 is that children can work in chronological order from ancient history such as ‘Ancient Egypt’ and then progress onto more modern history.

In upper KS2 allows children to repeat and embed this sequence of chronology with a wider selection of ancient history through to more modern history such as ‘World War II’ incorporating an educational visit to Eden Camp. In KS2 we also aim to enable children to develop an understanding of chronological order from ancient to modern which allows for children to truly develop and embed a sense of time and how civilisations were interconnected.

Implementation

In order for children to know more and remember more in each area of history studied, there should be a structure to lesson sequence whereby prior learning is always considered and opportunities for revision of facts and historical understanding are built into lessons. However, this is not to say that this structure should be followed rigidly: it allows for this revision to become part of good practice and ultimately helps build a depth to children’s historical understanding. Through revisiting and consolidating skills, our lesson plans and resources help children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills and challenge. The revision and introduction of key vocabulary is built into each lesson. This vocabulary is then displayed to ensure that children are allowed opportunities to repeat and revise this knowledge. Accurate historical subject knowledge are always incorporated within lessons to allow the teacher and adults working in those lessons to feel confident and supported with the historical skills and knowledge that they are teaching. We intend to inspire pupils and practitioners to develop a love of history and see how it has shaped the world they live in.

Please see the History policy

Please see the progression of skills for History.