At West Hill Primary School, we believe we learn about ourselves through the examination of past events. Careful thought and planning has ensured that children engage in a History curriculum that is relevant and coherent.
The scheme of work has been designed to match the needs of our pupils and build on their lives and experiences. It takes into account the rich and varied diverse community that we serve.
Our intention is for pupils to be able to:
All children will question the past confidently, helping them to gain an understanding of the complexity of people’s lives and the process of change, as well as their own identity and the current challenges of their time.
The scheme of work is designed to support children’s developmental understanding of themselves in the world and how cultures and countries are connected to the community at West Hill School.
To ensure our History Curriculum provides excellence in teaching and learning, it is taught progressively through carefully mapped out topics across and within year groups. This gives depth to pupils’ learning and enables all children to develop and enhance their knowledge and skills as stated in the National Curriculum.
Within each topic, carefully mapped historical skills ensure progression from EYFS to Year 6 and appear as ‘I can’ statements. We take care to ensure that these skills run through all lessons and are taught through the historical knowledge being learned.
The topics are structured through questioning and enquiries, inviting all pupils to explore their curiosity and the opportunity to present their own ideas about their knowledge and understanding of the past. Our history curriculum is designed to ensure appropriate diversity in the significant figures that children learn about. Teachers plan and teach for the varying needs of all learners, differentiating activities where appropriate and required. Teachers have access to quality resources, planning and CPD through our membership with the Historical Association; however their lesson designs are not limited by this.
Our history curriculum is also enhanced with annual events being commemorated throughout the school, through lessons, circle times and assemblies. In addition, teachers are given on-going support by the Subject Leader on planning and teaching, for example staff meetings, feedback and assistance on lesson planning; key historic terminologies and topic specific vocabulary to focus on; and recommended resources online to support learning. Teachers deliver our curriculum with an enthusiasm for curiosity, encouraging the children to express their views, feelings and opinions on the knowledge they have gained and to search for answers in varying sources.
