History
“Remember the days of old, Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you” - Deuteronomy 32:7
Intent:
History is highly regarded at Farncombe Infant School, with the local area and the school itself having a rich history. The history curriculum at Farncombe is informed by this, the
National Curriculum and the needs and interests of the school and local area. We strive to immerse our children in the rich history of the British Isles and beyond.
To do this, we inspire them to become young historians by promoting awareness, knowledge, and most importantly understanding and perspective of history. With these
skills, our children are equipped to think critically and ask questions about the world around them. This enables them to relate the present to past events and therefore know how the past helped shape the world today. Here are three ways we achieve these aims.
-
Enthusiastic and skilled teaching of history by staff.
-
A rich, varied, and well informed history curriculum.
-
A range of quality resources related to each topic, including books and artefacts.
Implementation:
History at Farncombe is taught in three half term blocks, alternating with geography. This means that children can be fully immersed in history topics through regular teaching. Each year group has their own history topics to meet their specific needs. This enables all children to make clear progression, either by achieving or exceeding throughout their time at the school as learning is tailored to their needs.
These units are informed by the national curriculum, with all history units being related to either local history, important individuals, and events within and outside of living memory, or a combination thereof. Cross curricular learning is also a part of the history curriculum as are special events like trips and school visitors. These inspire and elicit interest and are a useful addition to the curriculum itself. Staff also have access to a variety of resources to support their teaching including vocabulary by ability and topic, books, pictures, and items or artefacts relating to the history topic.
National Curriculum Links:
The history curriculum at Farncombe Infant School is aimed towards using the criteria of the national curriculum to create a locally relevant, impactful, and informative range of
subjects. As a result of their time at Farncombe, pupils will be able to identify examples of local, national, and international history including important individuals such as Florence Nightingale, Jack Philips, and Queen Elizabeth II. They will recognise important changes in the past to significant parts of daily life including transport and medical care that have taken place within and before their lifetimes.
As they move towards the end of KS1, pupils will be able to make judgements regarding historical periods, events, and individuals. To do this, pupils at Farncombe Infant School will utilise a variety of resources, vocabulary, and artefacts to make their point of view clear. They do this by using primary and secondary sources of information about the past to not just recount facts and figures and dates but also to make statements and present their own ideas about history. Children achieve this by making comparisons between the past and present, making connections between different individuals, periods of time, and events, as well as creating their own fictional accounts of historical events including the Great Fire of London.
What it looks like in the classroom:
-
Children exploring the past both supported by a teacher and independently through a variety of resources including books, computers, and artefacts.
-
Whole class teaching and conversations about the past through the use of stimuli including pictures to provoke discussion.
-
Inquiry about the past and the use of primary and secondary sources to ask and answer questions as well as conversations with each other.
-
Cross curricular learning especially through design technology and art to create London buses, for example.
-
Deep critical thinking and reflection on their own learning through research and question asking.
