Intent

At St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School, our aim is to deliver a high-quality History curriculum that develops pupils' knowledge and understanding of the past, promotes an appreciation for the importance of history, and encourages critical thinking skills. We aim to provide a rich and diverse curriculum that ensures all pupils are able to engage with the subject and develop a love for learning History.

We aim for a history curriculum that will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Implementation

At St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School, we use the National Curriculum objectives as the starting point for planning. Our whole school History curriculum is carefully sequenced, ensuring a logical progression of concepts and skills, taking into account the relationship between substantive and disciplinary knowledge.  We provide a broad and balanced coverage of historical periods, themes, and topics, placing emphasis on providing a chronological framework. Each year group has a clear curriculum map, outlining the specific historical content to be covered. We ensure that prior learning is revisited and consolidated, enabling pupils to build upon their existing knowledge and make connections between different historical periods.

In Early Years, history is taught through the specific area of learning ‘Understanding the World’. Children are given the opportunity to find out about and learn about past and present events. Teaching and learning opportunities are delivered through adult led activities and through carefully planned continuous provision. History in the early years makes a significant contribution to the initial basic understanding of chronology by looking at events of the past and current events e.g. through our work ‘All about me’ children look at when they were a baby (past) compared to them starting in our EYFS (present).

Impact

Children will be engaged in History lessons and be keen to share their learning with others. During pupil interviews, children will talk confidently about the skills and knowledge they have acquired and articulate their understanding of taught concepts. 

Outcomes in history books, evidence a broad and balanced history curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. Work will show that a range of topics is being covered, cross-curricular links are made where possible, and a wide variety of skills are being taught. Teachers will use the skills progression document to assess children’s progress. We expect that by the end of year 6, children will have the skills and knowledge they will need to access the Key Stage 3 curriculum.