History
We believe that if we open our hearts and minds to the possibilities each and everyone of us, no matter how small, can make a difference in our school and beyond. The parable of the Mustard seed teaches us that God can do a lot with a little! At St Michael’s school we passionately believe that every child has a natural curiosity to learn. Through the delivery of an interesting and exciting curriculum, all of your young children will learn and grow as historians learning and reflecting about the past and the changed that have happened and are happening now. Through learning about the stories of people from the past and now the children will learn that they too can make a difference.
How will the children learn and grow in History?
Our intention here at St. Michael’s is to develop our children’s knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.
It is important to us that the children experience a range of topics/stories from across time to develop relative chronology, with ethnic diversity which includes both female and male figures.
Throughout their time at St. Michael’s our pupils will learn about rulers; great change makers in health and medicine; leaders of resistance; famous minds (thinkers, writers and inventors); travellers, mapmakers and explorers.
We encourage them to use their questioning skills, to think critically and to understand that people may have different perspectives and judgements. We want children to be curious and to question why they live in the world they do today and to understand what has shaped our society and the world we live in.
We also want to ensure that the children are taught about the British Values in our society; through History and other subjects e.g. PSHCE.
How do we make this happen?
- History lessons
- Cross curricular learning
- School trips
- Library sessions
- Exciting topics that appeal to both boys and girls
- A wide variety of artefacts from the past
Key Stage 1
We provide our children with a coherently planned sequence of lessons to ensure they progressively cover the skills and concepts required in the National Curriculum. History aims to develop historical skills and concepts which are transferable to whatever period of history is being taught and will equip children for future learning and enable them to make links. We provide the children with some first-hand practical learning experiences so that the experiences they have are meaningful and memorable. We believe that through these strategies children will know more, remember more and understand more. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining the knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of educational visit and through visitors and external companies coming into school. History is taught both in isolation and is woven into the other subject areas across the school. We recognise the cross-curricular links which History lends itself to and we make sure we can use these opportunities to help the children develop a better understanding of themselves and the world in which they live. Our ‘Stand Up, Stand Out’ runs in addition to our planned curriculum topics.
Every half term each year group learn about a specific figure in ‘Stand Up, Stand Out’. The figures link to our school values; they have been chosen from both the past and now and incorporate diversity – gender, ethnicity, global figures. Our Stand Up, Stand Out people have been chosen to inspire our children and show how we can all make a difference.
How do we know this has made a difference?
The impact of our stimulating topics, and the links to our values through the ‘Stand Up, Stand Out’ work, provide our school with a valued subject and a high profile.
The thinking behind the delivery of our History curriculum enthuses a passion within our teachers and pupils, therefore encouraging our pupils to want to continue building on this wealth of historical knowledge and understanding, now and in the future.
Impact is measured through key questioning skills during lessons, the children’s work using our Learning Intentions and Success checklist, assessment activities which enables targeting next steps in learning. History is tracked using the school’s adapted Rainbow Continuum assessment model.
The Foundation Stage Curriculum
The 'Take Aways' for our children on leaving St Michael's
- Curiosity (about how people/events/objects ling up within time and across time ), activating new knowledge.
- A wide range of stories that have opened pupils to the realisation that the past is vast and highly variegated, (relative chronology being the focus rather than absolute chronology in KS1) examples taken from a range of periods and across the world.
- A sense that certain events and developments have acquired significance because of their impact (this could be that it resulted in changes.)
- A grasp of what it means for things to operate at a national level (rulers, leaders, reformers, protestors)
- The opportunity to see both themselves, and diverse others in the past – ethnic diversity, male and female (history is about people like them and their families; history is about other people very different from them and their families)
- Awareness of how people know about the past (sources – written, visual , physical; what historians do with them and the fascination they bring for all of us).
- Diverse spheres of human activity from scientists to rebels to community practices.