Intent
At Farsley Springbank Primary School, our intent is that our teaching of history will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We aim for it to inspire pupils’ curiosity about the past, enabling them to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop perspective and judgement. Through the teaching of history, we endeavor to help our pupils become global citizens who understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
Our commitment to the Heritage England programme ensures we are developing a rich local history curriculum. We believe that by giving children access to learning about historical events in the context of our local environment, we can build on the children's knowledge and understanding of their own heritage over their time at Farsley Springbank.
We aim to expose our children to a range of significant historical periods, events and figures through learning challenges, trips to local historical sites and visits from experts to inspire their learning and raise aspiration for future interest and careers.
As a school and in accordance with the National Curriculum’s expectations, we aim to ensure that all pupils have:
Implementation
There are between two and three learning challenges per year, which have cross-curricular links when there are suitable learning connections particularly with the geography curriculum. The history topics offer opportunities to reflect and build on prior learning. Children are reminded of previous learning at the start of lessons so they are able to make connections and build on prior knowledge.
The history learning challenges across EYFS, Key Stage 1 and 2 are planned through history learning journeys to expose children to a range of historical periods, events and significant figures as well as the key historical skills which include: source analysis and interpretation, a sense of chronological understanding and understanding of how to conduct historical enquiries. Progression of skills and knowledge has been carefully considered, to ensure children are developing and building upon their knowledge – please see the progression document.
Each history learning challenge will begin with a baseline to establish prior understanding. Where appropriate, the children will then undertake lessons to establish both the chronology of the period and the geographical context of it before learning about the key aspects of the period. Throughout the learning challenge, there are key themes which the children will learn about which allow them to build on their prior knowledge. In EYFS and Key Stage 1 the knowledge theme will be exploration. This will then be built upon in Key Stage 2 with the themes of empire and trade, governance and religion.
The children's local history curriculum is further enhanced with a whole school Heritage Afternoon in the spring term where the children have the opportunity for collaborative working and to learn more about local heritage in their curriculum.
Here are some examples of our history learning journeys.
History Enrichment
As part of our ambitious and exciting curriculum, we take our children on a range of trips and experiences to further enhance their learning. We take pride in celebrating Black History Month and Heritage Week whilst ensuring British Values and diversity are embedded throughout our bespoke curriculum. We also deliver 'hands-on' active learning to develop the children's historical skills which can be applied across other areas of the curriculum.