History at Westgate
Westgate History Intent
At Westgate School we intend to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding within History. It is our intent for all children to know, remember and ultimately understand more about the past. Throughout our History Curriculum, the children will be exposed to significant aspects and individuals of our locality, our country and our world whilst constantly reviewing how these have impacted their own identity and the challenges of our time. Our children will develop and progress in their chronological understanding, reviewing how different civilizations have evolved over time and how they have impacted one another.
We are committed to inspire children to want to learn more about the past and develop within them a curiosity that will enable them to appreciate and learn all that the past has to offer. We aim to bring the past to life by giving our children the opportunity to explore ancient artefacts, and discuss primary and secondary sources to develop the skills of analysis, evaluation and interpretation when following a line of enquiry. Our children will be encouraged to ask their own questions about History and historical vocabulary will play a vital role in developing children’s understanding of the past. We aim to develop the children's experiences by providing opportunities for the children to see History up close and enhance their learning with enrichment opportunities
Substantive key concepts run throughout all units building from the Early Learning Goals in EYFS up to Year 6. These concepts support and enhance the teaching of British Values and SMSC across the school as well as underpinning the knowledge identified in the National Curriculum.
These Substantive concepts are:
- Civilisation
- Rights
- Migration/Invasion
- Leadership
How is History developed in EYFS and beyond?
At the start of the year in EYFS, the children are introduced to History by exploring their own past and present in the context of their own lives and their journeys since birth. Through discussing themselves and their past experiences, likes and dislikes, the children will begin to develop an understanding of the past and present within their own lives before exploring change by comparing themselves from when they were a baby to now. Then will then begin to find out and ask questions about their friends, family and close community member’s past to extend their understanding of history. Throughout the year, they will explore key dates in History such as Guy Fawkes Night, Christmas, and the Easter story to help extend their understanding of the past from before they were born as well as use these stories to help them develop their understanding of chronology and sequencing of events from the past. This will help prepare the children for the Summer Term, in which they will learn about their history in our local area by considering how long they have lived here and comparing that to how long member of their families have lived here. The children would then start to consider why a friend or relative may want to move to Morecambe and identify features that make this a pleasant place to live. Throughout EYFS and the wider school, books are a key area for the children to develop their hinterland knowledge while developing their love for reading. In EYFS, stories will help introduce the children to significant figures of history and consider why we remember them now whilst also comparing stories set in different periods of time.
Planning
Our History lessons will be planned in line with the National Curriculum so that teaching is strengthened and pupils’ historical knowledge and understanding can be improved and progress along each substantive strand. History will be taught both as a discrete subject and in a cross-curricular way when the opportunity presents itself. We want our children to be aware that History is not only the study of time but also place, with this in mind we have aligned it to work alongside our Geography curriculum.
In line with the National curriculum, we will teach the children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weight evidence and consider the bias and reliability of sources. The children will begin to understand the complexity of people's lives, the process of change and the diversity of different societies and relationships. They will be able to make contrasts between different civilisations and consider how those changes have impacted upon their lives today. Our History units will be designed to enable pupils to achieve stated objectives, each lesson will focus on answering a question which in turn will allow the children to answer a key unit question at the end. The knowledge to answer this key question will have been built up throughout the unit so at the end the children are able to express their ideas freely taking into account all they have learnt. . Pupil progress towards these objectives will be recorded by teachers as part of their class recording system and shared with the history subject leader for whole school tracking purposes.
Within each unit, the children will have opportunity to handle artefacts, explore different sources, look at chronology and where possible we will provide a range of experiences to compliment and enrich the children’s learning.
Assessment
Pupils’ work will be constantly monitored and assessed using a variety of methods including
- Observation of pupils at work, as individuals or in a group.
- Questioning, talking and listening to pupils
- Considering work produced by pupils and discussing this with them.
- Tracking depth of learning at
- Prior knowledge will be revisited and consolidated through the use of prior learning questions.
Adaptive Teaching and Inclusion
The school aims to encourage all pupils to reach their full potential through provision of varied opportunities. We recognise that our curriculum planning must allow pupils to gain a progressively deeper understanding and competency as they move through our school. We recognise that some children will move beyond any particular level and that others will need extra support. Pupils with special education needs will work on the same topics with suitable adaptations and levels matched to individual abilities and needs. Greater depth pupils will be encouraged to deepen their understanding by tackling more complex historical concepts, to understand more abstract historical terms and to be able to compare and contrast this with prior learning and current global affairs. All children will be given equal access to History irrespective of social class, gender, culture, race, disability, or learning difficulties. Respect and tolerance for all cultures will be promoted through the study of History.
