History

Intent
At St Ethelbert’s Catholic Primary School, our intent when teaching History is twofold, firstly, we strive
to ignite the children’s passion and curiosity for what came before. Secondly, we fulfil the
requirements of the National Curriculum for History. We aim to provide a broad, balanced and
differentiated curriculum and ensure the progressive development of historical concepts.
Furthermore, we aim to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about history that will remain with
them for the rest of their lives. A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent
knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world (The 2014 Primary National
Curriculum in England).
Our History curriculum includes termly topics for all children from Reception to Year 6, which will
inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive
questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.
History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity
of societies and relationships between different groups.
Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a curriculum that is
progressive throughout the whole school.
The history curriculum is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides
a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills and taught in each Key Stage. Teachers are
free to use many different sources to support their planning of history, ensuring that the lesson will
always be engaging, relevant and tailored to the children’s needs whilst appropriate skills are covered
and gaps in learning are identified.
Educational visits are another opportunity for the teachers to plan for additional history learning
outside the classroom. The children have had many opportunities to experience history on educational
visits, for example to St Augustine’s Shrine. The children have explored local museums and had visitors
into school to share history learning and have hands on experiences.
Teachers draw upon observations and continuous assessment and to ensure children retain the
necessary knowledge, are stretched and challenged and to identify children who may need additional
support or quick intervention, so no child is left behind.
Impact
Within history, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning by providing
investigative enquiry-based learning opportunities. Emphasis is placed on investigative learning
opportunities to help children gain a coherent knowledge of understanding in each unit of work
covered throughout the school.
Our history curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression.
We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discrete vocabulary progression which also form
part of the units of work.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
● Learning walks and professional dialogue with teachers.
● Children complete cold and hot mind maps
● Summa􀆟ve assessment based on pupil’s discussion about their learning.
● Images and videos of the children’s practical learning (class books and Class Dojo pages).
● Interviewing pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
St Ethelbert’s Intent, Implementation and Impact - History
● Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s books and class portfolios are scrutinised and there is an
opportunity for dialogue between teachers to discuss the learning and teaching in their class