History
Creating active citizens of this country and the world.
Our Intent
We equip children to think critically, develop perspective and inspire their curiosity to know more about History. Our curriculum aims to give a solid foundation and broad overview of some of the most important periods in local, British and world history.
The learning and teaching of history provides opportunities to understand, appreciate and enjoy the multi-cultural world in which we live, and to celebrate its rich diversity. This starts in our Early Years where children look at their own history. The curriculum develops children’s ability to chronicle, investigate and explain the past, and thereby understand our world as it is.
Implementation
Our History lessons are built upon the National Curriculum, the school's developed programme and Reach Academy (Years 3-6). Lessons respond to children's curiosity. Where possible, History is centred around practical lessons that include booklets, artefacts, investigations, knowledge organisers (uploaded on google classroom and printed for in class use), visual aids and drama playing a key part. Trips and visitors also greatly enhance the History curriculum. 
In Key Stage 1 (KS1), children begin with units that teach awareness of the past like Transport and Travel, and significant past events, like the Great Fire of London. In Key Stage 2 (KS2), each year group studies three different units over the course of the year. KS2 units follow a chronological order from British prehistory and the Ice Age in Year 3, to the Windrush and Post World War II immigration in Year 6. In lessons children refer back to their booklets, reading the information and pausing for rich class discussion. Lessons start with a low stakes, quick retrieval quiz. This ensures children are learning the key information needed for the unit. They also include a wide variety of independent and group tasks. This might range from analysing primary or secondary resources to acting out an important event.
At the end of each unit, children will take part in an end of unit assessment. In KS1, this consists of a short, independent test to consolidate the learning from the unit. In KS2, children will complete a different form of assessment for each unit. By the end of the year, they will have completed an independent end of unit essay, presented a group poster and made a digital presentation to share with the class. Each assessment allows the children to highlight their rich knowledge, while also building their oracy skills, collaborative learning and increased motivation and passion for the subject.
Impact
This high quality History curriculum deepens children’s learning in the subject so that they are able to become independent thinkers. All children will develop a sense of time, placing events, people and changes within a chronological framework, using appropriate terms. 
Furthermore, they will gain knowledge of the characteristics of people living in particular periods, including their attitudes and beliefs and their social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity. This can then be used to describe, analyse and draw conclusions between the past and our world today. Each unit will help children build analytical abilities by asking questions, examining evidence, compare, and interpret different sources of information.
The curriculum is deliberately ambitious, and hopefully sets children up for a life-long love and understanding of history, while providing a foundation of knowledge that will make them curious, active citizens of this country and the world. 
