HISTORY at St Martin's
Intent
To understand the world around them, both locally and further afield, children need to be able to understand how the past has influenced and changed our present to create the world we live in. History surrounds us and gives relevance and context to all that we do today, and by understanding this notion, children develop curiosity about what came before them. History should be taught as a cyclical process of questioning, searching for answers and finding understanding.
This curiosity should be integral to all history teaching at St Martin’s and children should be given opportunities to create and explore their own questions as well as being guided towards central events and figures within each topic. These figures should come from a diverse range of backgrounds to echo the diversity in St Martin’s cohort and allow all students to see history’s relevance to their own lives. Learning through a range of sources, children will develop their own cultural capital as well as developing skills which will allow them to continue their own learning journey fuelled by their curiosity and creativity.
Implementation
As it is in the adult world, history within the school should be made cross-curricular wherever possible, with opportunities for children to develop and cement their knowledge through reading and writing provided regularly as well as links made to historical influences on geography, science, religion and art. Historical skills should be introduced and developed so that by the end of primary school, all children have secure skills including: chronological understanding, knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes of the past, historical interpretations and historical enquiries/investigations.. To ensure access to learning for all pupils, differentiation should be provided through management of source materials, support (especially through conversation and exchanging of ideas), and by learning outcome. Regular formative assessment should be used to ensure equality in learning and the results of effective summative assessments should ensure that historical understanding and skills are continually developed from one year to the next with no child left to fall behind.
In Early Year’s education, children are taught to perceive past, present and future by relating it to their own experience. As they enter Key Stage One, by learning chronologically, children should develop a sense of how our planet has progressed over time due to the introduction and evolution of life. By Key Stage 2, children should be able to see how past civilisations began to lay the foundations for today’s society as well as compare and contrast how their local area may have developed differently from other places around the world as a result of historical, geographical and cultural factors. All topics should begin with an assessment of where their new learning will sit on the timeline of their historical knowledge so far and provide regular opportunities to make links to previous topics. Leadership should provide opportunities within each year for children to present their newfound knowledge with a range of audiences in order to share learning and therefore develop their cultural capital.