History at Colden

Intent: what are we trying to achieve with our curriculum?

At Colden, our History curriculum is designed to engage children's curiosity and fascination about the past at a local, national and global level. We aim for pupils to take on the role of a historian: using a range of historical sources with which to explore the past, exploring different perspectives, asking questions, thinking critically and weighing evidence. We believe that learning about History is crucial for children to have the requisite cultural capital to not only prepare them for the next phase of their education, but also to lead a fulfilling life. Our high-quality History curriculum helps our Colden Historians to develop an understanding of how actions in the past have helped shape our world today, an empathy for people living in different times and contexts and an appreciation of the diversity of societies.

Our History curriculum reflects the National Curriculum as well as our school community’s specific context and needs. By the time our pupils leave, we aim for our Colden Historians to:

· Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world

· Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of an-cient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind

· Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’

· Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, simi-larity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, ana-lyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, in-cluding written narratives and analyses

· Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed

· Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, un-derstanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; be-tween cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Inclusion

Colden is an inclusive school. For those children with SEND and/or deemed ‘vulnerable’, adjustments are made based upon individual needs. These may be to the curriculum itself or to access arrangements. At the same time, the importance of fostering independence and developing the confidence and ability to meet appropriate challenges is understood and promoted. 

Implementation: how do we deliver our curriculum?

Our curriculum progression documents demonstrate how pupils’ History knowledge and skills are developed through their time at Colden, constantly building on prior learning.

We have a blocked approach in our curriculum structure, with History being taught discretely as a topic. This is to ensure that pupils develop their specific History knowledge and skills so that these are not lost in an overly cross-curricular approach. At the same time, when connections are appropriate and relevant with other areas of the curriculum these are drawn out.

In order to support our pupils’ learning being committed to their long-term memory, we have developed bespoke Knowledge Organisers (KOs) which detail the key knowledge and vocabulary required for each topic. These are stuck into books at the beginning of the topic. To help ensure that pupils are aware of the sequence of learning, the key questions being addressed in each lesson is also pasted into books. These and the KOs are then used throughout the topic as a tool for recapping and retrieving learning. In addition, teachers revisit previous topics to ensure that this learning is committed to their long-term memories.

Pupils record their learning in their topic books. Their books not only demonstrate the progress being made, but also are used as a learning tool as described above. 

Impact: what difference is our curriculum making to pupils?

Teachers assess the impact of their teaching continuously through questioning, observing and monitoring pupils’ work. Teachers will be constantly asking themselves the question as to whether pupils have mastered the knowledge and skills as intended. If not, this could result in lessons being adapted or additional opportunities found to revisit the identified gaps in learning to ensure that all children achieve as planned.

Staff work together to moderate judgements through regular book scrutinies to ensure consistency of approach across the school. Leaders moderate judgements to ensure these are appropriate and pupils’ outcomes reflect the intent as set out.

Equal Opportunities

The school is committed to providing equal opportunities for all, regardless of race, faith, gender or capability in all aspects of school. We promote self and mutual respect and a caring and non-judgmental attitude throughout the school.