Nelson Infant School

A high quality history education helps to prepare our children for life in the 21st Century.  It is by studying, discussing and  analysing  people, events and actions from the past we can understand the complexities of people's lives, the process of change and the diversity of and relationships between different societies and cultures.  We understand the importance of not only investigating and interpreting the past but also showing how past actions, people and events have shaped our present times and lives. To Ignite our children’s curiosity about the past we follow a knowledge based curriculum (Primary Knowledge Curriculum) which gives children a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of local, British and world history.  

History lessons will have a strong Oracy focus where children will  be able to develop their historical vocabulary and articulate concepts such as monarchy, empire and civil war clearly and precisely.

Our historical curriculum enables children:

• To develop a secure understanding of people, events and ways of life at different times in the past.

• To have an excellent understanding of chronology

• To differentiate between source types and begin to critically think about their reliability.

• Through enquiry and questioning, develop their own opinions and interpretations of the past.

EYFS

History is taught within the ‘knowledge and understanding the world’ strand with a focus on the Early Learning Goal of ‘Past and Present’. Children will talk about their own lives and timeline and  lives of people around them.  They will be given opportunities to explore the similarities and differences between things in the past and now.  This will be achieved through stories, use in provision of role play, imaginative play, small world play and constant discussions with adults and peers early historical skills and understanding can be developed and built upon further in KS1.

Our History curriculum has been designed to be both knowledge rich and coherently sequenced. Each unit of work builds upon previous learning and is taught as a chapter in the story of the history of Britain and the wider world rather than a stand alone topic. By teaching this way children master the knowledge and concepts whilst building up an extended specialist vocabulary.

To excite and engage our history detectives we will start each unit with a ‘hook or wow moment’ to develop our line of enquiry.  Each session children are given a learning question and ‘Steps to Success’ criteria to enable all learners to achieve their objective. Children are supported and challenged throughout lessons, by ‘Step for depth’ tasks. A ‘prior knowledge’ question is set at the beginning of each lesson to check for retention of concepts and overall understanding. At the end of each unit, the children have an end of unit quiz to assess their knowledge and see in future lessons what specifically needs to be a focus.

During our unit we introduce children to the different types of historical sources such as photos, paintings, written accounts and artefacts. We develop their enquiry, questioning and interpreting techniques and discuss varying reliability of sources.

To enhance our children’s desire for discovery we understand the importance of first hand experiences. Our curriculum brings history to life by immersing children in realistic experiences both in school through visitors, role play, and on educational visits, in particular making full use of the rich resources Norwich has to offer. This not only promotes awe and wonder but allows children to embed their knowledge and understanding of the unit and enriches the specialist historical vocabulary they are developing.

Learning Sequences - 

• Prior Learning – What do the children already know? How do you know?

• Vocabulary – Introduce, rehearse, recap keywords

• Teach – teaching of the content and skills needed for success. Ensure there is modelling, checking and questioning,

• Talk Task – learn/discuss the particular content through discussion and conversation.

• Task– application of the knowledge learned in different contexts – these will show appropriate challenge for all.

• Step for depth – question to deepen knowledge/understanding

• Assess/Review – check what the children know now through low takes assessment and identify next steps