History

INTENT

We want children at Palterton Primary School to know about and appreciate the past. We hope our children will develop respect and empathy for the people who have gone before us. We want them to be interested in the past and show enthusiasm when learning in History lessons. They will be able to compare periods of time, key events and historical figures.

We want our children to know about important local, national and world events. We want them to use timelines so they can understand how events fit together.

We want the children at Palterton to ask questions and be able to use a range of sources, such as artefacts, books and internet research. They will learn what is a reliable source of evidence.

IMPLEMENTATION

The National curriculum is shared through the appropriate year groups and classes, to ensure coverage. We teach through a theme-based approach to encourage interest and enjoyment, and many of our themes are very much History focused.  Other topics have History content and some have a focus on Geography. Our classes are mixed age and as such, we have a two year rolling program of topics, with the exception of our youngest children in Foundation Stage, who will begin to develop their sense of the past and present, through the learning area “Understanding of the World”

Our teachers teach history in a variety of ways and try where we are able to bring History to life. Whether it be trips, looking at artefacts, books, videos, internet research or visitors to school, we try to spark the children's interest. For example dressing up as Romans or doing 1920s style drill. History links with many creative areas, and teachers link their History teaching and learning, planning activities such as 1960s inspired Art, or cave painting, or Art based on the Great Fire of London.

IMPACT

Our children show a high level of engagement in History learning, and will often complete additional research at home, or bring artefacts and photographs in from home that link with and extend their History learning, such as old photographs of the school, war memorabilia and postcards from Egyptian pyramids. Children often want to know more about a topic. They want to discover and delve deeper.

We make links with other areas, such as Geography, Science and Maths, and teach in a cross curricular way, where it will help children to understand how their Historical learning fits into a bigger picture.

Useful History information