History

At Broad Oak, it is our intention to teach history in alignment with our core values.

Intent

Broad Oak’s History curriculum uses the National Curriculum as a basis for its content and framework. The concepts of continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference run through the curriculum. Children will develop their chronological knowledge and knowledge and understanding of our country and the wider world, as outlined in the National Curriculum. We use the Rising Stars scheme as a basis for planning and also draw on materials from the National History Association to support the delivery of our History Curriculum.

Children will develop coherent knowledge and understanding of key aspects of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. This will provide them with a foundation of knowledge that will help them understand how the world has come to be how it is today. In developing children to become good citizens, they will learn how to think critically, evaluate evidence and develop perspective and judgement.

Knowledge learnt in KS1 provides a foundation for concepts taught in KS2. Year 1 history centres around aspects closer in time to children’s own experiences. Year 2 history begins to look at more abstract ideas which are further away from a child’s own experiences. In KS2, the curriculum gives pupils a strong grounding in British history, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, the first settlements through Roman Britain, the Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and World War Two.

Implementation

History is taught through direct instruction, practice and then feedback. Guided, independent and retrieval practice are used, where appropriate, to ensure children remember the key knowledge and are able to use this in activities that require deeper thinking.

Teachers’ subject knowledge is supported by materials intrinsic to the Rising Stars scheme which provide the required level of expert knowledge so that explanations are clear and accurate, and children's misconceptions are anticipated and addressed as they arise.

Discussion and teacher questioning allows pupils to explore new knowledge and make links back to prior learning. Knowledge organisers are used to set out the knowledge, vocabulary and concepts that all children are expected to learn. Opportunities for retrieval practice are included in History lessons and knowledge review lessons to ensure knowledge is transferred into long-term memory.

Formative assessment is essential in the implementation of the history curriculum. Effective questioning plays a fundamental role in checking for understanding and ensuring misconceptions are addressed. Learning outcomes are given in the form of questions to encourage curiosity, underpinned by posing a key enquiry question for each topic.

Impact

Formative assessment is used to support learning. At the end of each unit of teaching, quizzes or assessment pieces are used to monitor the depth of understanding of knowledge and the strength of its retrieval. Teachers make judgements on what children have understood and record this information using Educater.

Pupils’ work, in written and photographic forms, is used to secure and demonstrate children’s learning. It informs teacher assessment, both formative and summative, and is used by subject leaders as part of assuring the quality of history teaching. The subject leader talks to pupils about their learning as part of the monitoring process. Children’s books and knowledge organisers are used to guide discussion and provide the subject leader with the information required to measure how much of the intended knowledge and vocabulary has been remembered and understood.