Our Lady Of Good Counsel

History

Our Vision

At Our Lady’s, we aim to provide a History curriculum that inspires children to find out more about the past. We strive to make the learning process enjoyable and believe that History should be brought back to life in the classroom to excite and engage the children. We use a variety of artefacts, props and educational visits to make this a reality. Throughout the school there are a variety of History topics taught, which ensure that the children are taught a wide range of historical skills and are given the opportunity to ask questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop their own perspectives on events that they have studied.

The Intent of our History Curriculum

Our History curriculum is designed to encourage and engage the children when finding out about their past, the past of those around them, the past of Britain and of the wider world. Children will find out about the past in a carefully sequenced manner, to help develop their chronological knowledge and understanding.

Through careful planning, children will begin to understand:

• The lives of those around them.
• The lives of significant individuals.
• Changes over time.
• Why some significant changes have occurred and how these have affected how we live today.
• Significant achievements from different periods of time.
• How cultures differ in different locations and time periods.

The Implementation of our History Curriculum

At Our Lady’s, leaders have created a whole school coverage plan for History, based on the National Curriculum. Our plan is carefully sequenced to enable children to build up their knowledge and deepen their understanding of chronology, including when and why things happened, and the impact of these happening over time.

Each topic has its own enquiry question which aims to provoke curiosity and place investigation at the front of our children’s minds. Our teachers plan engaging History lessons around this line of enquiry, using a range of resources. School trips and visitors to school are used to enhance the experience of history as a subject and to challenge the thinking and perspectives of our pupils.

Throughout each History topic, the children created their own knowledge organiser in their books, recording any key vocabulary or information that they find out. This supports our children to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long-term memory.

Early Years

In our Early Years classes, History is an integral part of their topic work covered during the year, through both child-initiated and adult-led activities. The children are given the opportunity to find out about the past in their own lives and of those around them, thinking how this differs to the present.

Key Stage One

During Key Stage One, the children find out about significant men, women and events from the recent and more distant past in Britain and the wider world. They listen and respond to stories, and use sources of information to help them ask and answer questions. They learn how the past is different from the present.

Key Stage Two

During Key Stage Two, our children find out about significant people, events and places from the recent and more distance past. They learn about similarities and differences over time in their own area, in Britain and in other parts of the world, and how these have impacted life today. Children will look at History in a variety of ways, for example from social, political and cultural perspectives. They will use different sources of information, such as photographs, diaries and artefacts to help them investigate the past, but will also learn that the past can be represented and interpreted in different ways.

The Impact of our History Curriculum

Through high quality teaching of History across our school, we will see the impact in a variety of ways:

• Engagement – children will be engaged in lessons, ask questions and show and enthusiasm to find out more.
• Pupil voice – children will be able to talk enthusiastically about the knowledge that they have learnt and skills that they have acquired.
• Books – children’s work will be recorded in a variety of ways, such as explanations, diagrams and photographs, and will show that a range of topics are being covered.
• Working environment – the school will be history rich through display, resources and vocabulary.
• Assessment and Monitoring – teacher assessments and subject leaders monitoring will show standards in history will be high and are in line with standards in other subject areas.

Please find our Long Term Plan for History below.