History at Barden

Intent

Our ambition at Barden Primary School is that all children gain an understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We hope to ignite children’s natural curiosity to allow them to know more about the past. Barden’s history curriculum has been designed to provide a coherently planned sequence of lessons to ensure children are progressively taught the knowledge, skills and concepts required by the National Curriculum. Children will consistently be given opportunities to make meaningful links between what they are currently learning with what they have previously studied. Each history topic has been organised to offer a clear outline of the knowledge, skills and vocabulary that are to be taught in a coherent way. Clear statements define the Chronological Knowledge, Substantive Knowledge and Disciplinary Knowledge that children are expected to learn.
Our history teaching at Barden aims to ensure that all children can:

• gain and use a wide range of historical vocabulary
• understand historical concepts such as change and continuity, cause and consequence, similarity and difference and historical significance
• use historical concepts to make connections, draw contrasts and ask historically valid questions
• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used to make historical claims
• gain historical perspective by making connections between local, national and international history and between short and long-term time scales

Implementation

A range of inclusive and effective learning strategies will be used in all lessons to capture pupils’ interest and to promote effective learning and progress for all pupils. Children will begin in EYFS to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of the world through the teaching of the recent past. As children progress within school, they will build upon this prior knowledge, with each new topic giving children opportunities to make connections with what has been previously learnt. Our whole school approach to long term memory will be embedded in the delivery of history through the use of regular retrieval activities, enabling children to know more and remember more.

First-hand experiences, visits, visitors and the local and wider environment will be used at every opportunity to ignite children’s curiosity to know more about the past. Artefacts and sources will be used in every history topic to support children to make historical enquiries and ask historically valid questions.

A range of teaching strategies will be used to provide appropriate differentiation to support all children including those with special educational needs, English as an additional language and disadvantaged pupils.

Teachers will use Barden’s history curriculum framework to develop the long-term knowledge, skills and understanding of every child, ensuring all pupils achieve high standards for their ability and make appropriate progress towards year group end points.

Impact 

We use both formative and summative assessment information in history. Assessment informs learning to ensure that all pupils, including disadvantaged and those with SEND, achieve highly and acquire the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Staff use assessment information to inform their short-term planning and address misconceptions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils. The end points for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down. This means that the essential knowledge, skills and concepts in history are progressive and build year on year.

Our well-constructed curriculum in history leads to pupils’ successful learning. This is evidenced in the outcomes within workbooks and display work produced. Pupils are well-prepared for the next steps and stages of their learning due to the progressive and well-sequenced curriculum. As a result, pupils make excellent progress; they know more and remember more as they move through the history curriculum at Barden Primary.

Barden History Curriculum 2023-24

National Curriculum Coverage

USEFUL LINKS 

• Horrible histories This website has lots of entertaining and informative videos about history for children to watch and enjoy. We love to listen to their songs too!
• BBC Bitesize This website is full of videos and information and is linked closely to the National Curriculum
• History for kids This free website provides games, videos and worksheets for numerous historical events