History

Intent

At Kippax Ash Tree Primary School, we teach an aspiring, knowledge-rich curriculum that maximises the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more. We endeavor to provide pupils with a solid foundation and broad overview of the many significant periods, events and themes in British and world history. To ensure that pupils develop secure knowledge, our History curriculum is sequenced progressively building on prior learning and understanding. We want children to be able to make connections between previous and current learning allowing them to refine their ideas, vocabulary and perspectives. Our intention is to improve every pupil’s cultural and historical understanding of the world around them, including their own locality. We strive to spark their imagination and for them to wonder about the past and how this will shape and impact their futures.

Implementation

At Kippax Ash Tree, History is taught in subject-specific lessons, where children are immersed in History knowledge which is built upon during their time with us. All learning will start by revisiting and retrieving prior knowledge which supports children to make connections with new learning. In each lesson, we will explicitly model the subject-specific vocabulary which we want all children to use and understand. In our classrooms, we have a timeline of our key events so the children are able to integrate new knowledge into previous learning.
Learning is supported through the use of knowledge organisers that provide children with scaffolding to enable them to retain facts and vocabulary in their long-term memory. Learning Journeys are displayed in every classroom provide a scaffold for children. Tier three subject-specific vocabulary is displayed on the learning wall along with key facts and questions and model examples of the work being taught.

History assessment is on-going throughout the unit to inform teachers with their planning of lessons, activities and differentiation. The retrieval task at the start of each lesson shows what knowledge the children have retained and any misconceptions can be addressed. We use half termly quizzes to review learning both current and prior. This ensures we are checking that children remember the key knowledge by using low stake testing. These are based on the Kagan research and require children to think deeply. During the half term, the children write an essay based on their current unit. This requires them to recall key knowledge, use specific vocabulary and write about it in detail. Not only does this showcase what they know, it also embeds and strengthens their knowledge.
Our historians will be given a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom where appropriate to create memorable learning opportunities and to further support and develop their understanding.

Impact

Through the high quality teaching of History taking place we will see the impact of the subject in different ways. Through pupil voice children will be able to talk about the skills and knowledge they have acquired. They will be enthusiastic about their learning and will be able to make connections between different time periods. They will use key vocabulary in the correct context showing they understand the definitions. The children’s books will show clearly planned tasks that allow children to demonstrate their knowledge; this will be accessible to all children. Key vocabulary will be clearly evident in all lessons along with retrieval tasks at the start. Through the use of Kahoot quizzes and essays, the children will demonstrate what they have learnt. The school environment will be history rich through displays, resources, timelines and key vocabulary. By the time children leave Kippax Ash Tree, they will have a secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods covered. They will demonstrate their ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources. The children will have a desire to embrace challenging activities and the ability to think critically about history and communicate confidently.