Intent

At Cedars Primary school, we endeavour to teach History and historical enquiry within a broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils leave Cedars with a secure understanding of chronology; both in Britain and the wider world. Through carefully planned, progressive lessons, pupils are taught about the significance of different historical periods, key historical figures and how History has influenced their lives today. Our intention is that children learn both about History and from History adopting a curiosity and awareness of how History has been interpreted by different people at different times. Through the study of historical evidence and through exploring their local area, pupils will develop a deep understanding of the rich History of their locality. Perhaps more poignantly, pupils will leave our school aware of today’s challenges and how they will be viewed historically in later years.

Implementation

The National Curriculum is used to plan and deliver the teaching of History at Cedars in a progressive way. We enable children to make connections and revise previous History units taught through the use of recapping previous topics through quizzes which captures the children’s learning in a personal way. Using pictures, photographs, film clips (primary and secondary), artefacts, key vocabulary and historical evidence as a starting point, pupils are encouraged to discuss and reason with curiosity what they are presented with and how this can be interpreted. Having studied historical evidence, pupils are encouraged to react to History and use this knowledge to discuss, present, debate, re-enact and write from different historical perspectives. This embeds and consolidates pupils’ understanding of History and its impact on society. In the wider, broad and balanced curriculum, pupils are exposed to a range of stories and poems from different historical periods and a range of ethnicities, with the intention of deepening their knowledge of History further. At Cedars, historical learning is made significantly more memorable due to our carefully planned trips, educational visitors and workshops. History is taught weekly during alternate half terms (alternating with Geography) and the sequence of learning is carefully mapped to ensure that children are not overloaded with information. Each unit of learning is planned according to the composite which may take the form of a big question. All lessons are carefully mapped out in a sequential manner to enable children to be able to have an informed discussion about the topic; both within a unit and also at the end. As part of our focus on oracy, we use various oracy strategies to make the learning more meaningful and memorable. Vocabulary is progressively taught across the school and is often recorded in the children’s learning journeys.

Impact

The impact of History teaching is assessed in a variety of ways- book monitoring, informal learning walks and studying of learning journeys (EYFS). These are performed by the subject leader to gain an insight of History teaching in practise. In addition to this, the subject leader conducts informal pupil interviews to ensure that learning has been achieved sufficiently and can be recalled when prompted. Through this, it is evident that pupils are excited and curious about History. The class teacher will monitor the progression of each individual child in their class using the Cedars End point and Progression of Knowledge documents. These are then monitored regularly by the subject lead to ensure consistency. By the end of each key stage most children are either working within or beyond the expected standard for their age in History. 

EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports children’s understanding of History through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World’. This aspect is about how children find out about past and present events in their own lives, their families and other people they know. Children are encouraged to develop a sense of change over time and are given opportunities to differentiate between past and present by observing routines throughout the day, growing plants, observing the passing of seasons and time and looking at photographs of their life and of others. Practitioners encourage investigative behaviour and raise questions such as, ‘What do you think?', ‘Tell me more about?', 'What will happen if..?', ‘What else could we try?', ‘What could it be used for?' and ‘How might it work?' Use of language relating to time is used in daily routines and conversations with children.