History
Academic Excellence
At St Joseph’s, our History curriculum is filled with opportunity to inspire curiosity will ensure our children gain an articulate knowledge of Britain’s past and the wider world. Our vision is for academic excellence in all that we do. Our ambitious History curriculum has chances to ask insightful questions, think critically, consider evidence, develop chronological awareness and discerning viewpoints. Through academic discussion about historical events and their impact, we will help our pupils to experience and learn an established tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary.
We teach the National Curriculum supported by a clear progression of knowledge and skills. This ensures that knowledge and history skills are built on year by year and sequenced appropriately to maximise learning for all pupils. Careful links are made across the curriculum to ensure that pupils’ History learning and enquiry is relevant, and wherever possible, comparisons and links can be made across historical periods. We encourage educational visits, visitors and use of a range of historical sources to enhance cultural capital amongst our pupils, to widen vocabulary, and to enhance their learning in an active and creative way. All with the vision to aid understanding of local, national and international history.
Diversity
We are currently challenging our planning of our History curriculum, to ensure that learning reflects the diversity of our world and our community and to encourage pupils to have a more global outlook, understanding that the story of the past has been shaped by men and women of colour too. We aim to teach children to understand the difficulties of people’s lives, progressions and influences for change, deliberate about their own identity and heritage and the challenges of their time. Teaching History is an opportunity to broaden children’s horizons, challenge preconceived ideas and promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
Action
At St Joseph’s, the children’s History journey begins in EYFS, learning about their family and location which is then built upon further in KS1 with wider learning and experience of some global history and development of chronology. These foundation blocks help to deepen both knowledge and understanding of concepts of time and use of historical skills of enquiry in KS2, when children are encouraged to discuss, debate and inform their views and ability to articulate effectually about the different ways the past has been represented and interpreted.
We know that a solid understanding of the methods of historical enquiry and using evidence from primary and secondary sources in a rigorous way, can help to make historical claim and explanations of the past. It also develops the skill to challenge and form critical judgements of those constructions too, which enables children to be successful in other areas of the curriculum, preparing them for their life beyond our school.
