Intent

The intention of the History Curriculum at Hindley Junior and Infant Primary School is to inspire children’s curiosity, fascination and understanding about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Our teaching equips children with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world; know and understand about significant aspects of history of the wider world like ancient civilisations and empires; changes in living memory and beyond living memory; learn about the lives of significant people of the past; understand the methods of historical enquiry and be able to ask and answer questions. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining this knowledge and these skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of the local area and educational visits.

Implementation

In Reception, early history skills are taught through the ‘Understanding the World – Past and Present’ area of learning. Through our themed approaches in the Reception Year, children will look at similarities and differences between the past and present, drawing on their own experiences where possible and in the lives of people around them. Children will understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books and through storytelling.
In Key Stage One and Two, to ensure high standards in teaching and learning in History, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Each class from Y1-Y5 has three History topics which are covered over the year, Y6 has two. Each year group builds upon and further develops prior knowledge, skills and understanding. History is taught as a stand-alone subject. Teachers create Learning Pathways for each topic using our Knowledge Organisers and our History Skills progression document based upon the National Curriculum. This ensures coverage of and progression in the programmes of study requirements in History for KS1 and KS2.
Our Long Term Plan, Knowledge Organisers and History Skills progression ensures that the children in each year group have a good understanding of:
 Chronological understanding
 Historical enquiry skills
 Historical interpretation
 Continuity and change
 Cause and consequence
 Similarity and difference within a period/situation (diversity)
 Significance of events/people
We encourage and arrange visits to the school by outside agencies and visits to historical sites and museums. These experiences are used to fully immerse children into their learning and to support the teaching and learning within a specific history topic. Where possible we use artefacts for children to explore and investigate. We believe that handling real objects enhances the children’s historical knowledge and understanding.

Impact

The intended impact is for the majority of children in each year group to be working at or above the expected standards for their age. In addition to this:
 Children will become increasingly critical and analytical within their thinking. Making informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past.
 Children will become increasingly aware of how historical events have shaped the world that they currently live in.
 They will also have a further understanding of History on a local level and on a small-scale.
 Children will develop enquiry skills to pursue their own interests within a topic and further questioning.
 Where applicable, children will have encountered or participated in high-quality visits/visitors to further appreciate the impact of History.
 Children are to retain prior-learning and explicitly make connections between what they have previously learned and what they are currently learning.
The impact of History teaching is assessed in a variety of ways. Informal learning walks are used by the subject leader to gain an insight of History teaching in practise. In addition to this, the subject leader conducts informal pupil interviews alongside the children’s books to ensure that learning has been achieved sufficiently and can be recalled when prompted. Through this, it is evident that pupils are excited and curious about History