Subject Lead: Mrs Robinson
At Denbigh, History is taught through a topic to provide children with cross-curricular opportunities. Our staff aim to inspire pupil’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. Our curriculum is designed to give pupils a sense of identity by studying the past to understand the present and to inform the future. We encourage our pupils to be inquisitive by asking and answering questions, making predictions and reasoning with the teacher as the facilitator, con-contractor and co-participant to create young historians.
Our key concepts:
In EYFS the children learn about their own history and events in their own past, which is relevant to them and gives them a sense of time. KS1 builds upon previous learning by continuing to look at events within their living memory and then beginning to extend this to look at events beyond their memory. Year 1 and 2 topics are linked to the local area and local historical famous people to make this meaningful for the children.
In key stage two history is taught in chronological order so that our children receive a coherent, chronological narrative from the earliest times to the present day. This affords our pupils the opportunity to make links and build on their previous learning.
We make every effort to develop meaningful and memorable links between subjects to give our pupils a cross-curricular context. Through our link with North Tyneside’s library service, we are able to immerse the children in their topics by using books and real artefacts in our classrooms. This allows the children to experience our topics first hand and puts it into a meaningful context for them allowing them to deepen their understanding of the topic. We create engaging lessons using drama and to reinforce their learning, we employ theatre groups and visitors to bring the subject alive. Visitors and educational trips are frequently used across the whole school where possible in every year group to allow the children first-hand experiences. Throughout the year we have special subject dress up days to fully immerse the children in their learning. As well as a whole school heritage day which children spend working alongside specialists from various local industries to give our children an insight into life in the past. Grandparents and great grandparents alsoplay a vital part in this by coming along and sharing their experiences and stories, as well as allowing our children to ask questions about their lives.
Staff at Denbigh know that good History occurs in our school when:
Threshold Concept: Change and continuity
Milestone: Explain the difference between the past and present
Threshold Concept: Change and continuity
Milestone: Identify similarities and differences between given periods in history
Threshold Concept: Change and continuity
Milestone: Make comparisons between different periods, explaining things that have changed and stayed the same
Place known events and objects in chronological order
Sequence events and recount changes within memory
Explain how he/she has changed since he/she was born
Use common words and phrases relating to the passing of time including: past, old, new, recent, young, days, months
Explain the differences between the past and present in own life and that of other children from a different time in history
Find answers to some simple questions about the past from simple sources of information
Give a plausible explanation about what an object was used for in the past
Describe some simple similarities and differences between artefacts
Ask and answer questions about old and new objects
Explain why certain objects were different in the past, e.g. iron, music systems, televisions
Ask and answer relevant basic questions about the past
Answer questions using an artefact / photograph provided
Give examples of ways in which life is different in the present day compared to that of the early 20th century
Use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms
Speak about how he/she has found out about the past
Find out something about the past by talking to an older person
Answer questions by using specific source such as an informative book or website
Know about a famous event that happens somewhere else in the world and why it has been happening for some time
Explain how the local area was different in the past
Record what he/she has learned by drawing and writing
Ask and answer questions such as What was it like for a…? What happened? How long ago?
Discuss the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements and use some to compare aspects of life in different periods
Recount the life of someone famous from Britain who lived in the past giving attention to what they did earlier and what they did later
Research the life of a famous person from the past using different resources to help them
Sequence events about the life of a famous person
Make comment on why people did things, why events happened and what happened as a result
Research the life of someone who used to live in the area using internet and other sources to find out about them
Use an increasing range of common words and phrases relating to the passing of time including century, decade, BC, AD
Use dates to place events, artefacts and historical figures on a timeline
Refer to more than one source of evidence for more accurate understanding of events
Study two different accounts of the same event, exploring similarities and differences
Know that Britain has been invaded by several different groups over time
Use ‘information finding’ skills in writing to help them write about historical information
Identify similarities and differences between given periods in history
Know some of the lasting effects of an invasion of Britain
Place some historical periods in a chronological framework
Plot recent history on a timeline using centuries
Understand that changes occur over time and add evidence and dates to timeline to represent this
Use historic terms related to the period of study
Use sources of information in ways that go beyond simple observations to answer questions about the past
Explain how events from the past have helped shape our lives
Discuss what we can learn from some primary and secondary sources of information and evaluate their usefulness
Use a variety of resources to find out about aspects of life in the past
Appreciate that the food people ate was different because of the availability of different sources of food
Know some achievements of an early civilisation
Understand that sources can contradict each other
Research two versions of an event and say how and why they differ
Communicate his/her learning in an organised way, using appropriate terminology
Ask a historically valid question about change
Use dates to order and place events on a timeline
Draw a timeline with different time periods outlined which shows different information, such as, periods of history, when famous people lived, etc
Create timelines which outline the development of specific features, such as medicine; weaponry; transport, etc
Compare sources of information available for the study of different times in the past
Make comparisons between aspects of periods of history and the present day
Make comparisons between historical periods; explaining things that have changed and things which have stayed the same
Understand that the type of information available depends on the period of time studied
Evaluate the usefulness of a variety of sources
Present findings and communicate knowledge and understanding in different ways
Select reliable sources of information to answer questions about the past
Provide an account of a historical event based on more than one source
Describe causes and consequences for an important historical event
Address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance
Construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information
Summarise how Britain has had a major influence on world history
Understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources
Understand that some evidence is propaganda, opinion or misinformation and that this effects interpretations of history
Make confident use of a variety of sources for independent research
Describe a key event from Britain’s past using a range of evidence from different sources
Describe a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods he/she studies
Appreciate how Britain once had an Empire and how that has helped or hindered our relationship with a number of countries today
Note connections, contrasts and trends over time and show developing appropriate use of historical terms
Recognize and describe differences and similarities / changes and continuity between different periods in history
Summarise how Britain may have learnt from other countries and civilizations through time gone by and more recently
Explore all available evidence to form an opinion of a historical event
Use research and prior learning to explain why there are social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversities within societies studied in Britain and the wider world