History Intent

In our unique school family, we strive to deliver inspiring and explicit teaching of history which fires children’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. Using creative and cross-curricular themes children will learn about the diversity of human experience, the process of change and chronology of events set in the context of time. Through finding out about how and why the world, our country, culture and local community have developed, children will understand how the past influences their present day. Our teaching of history will enable children to develop a context for their growing sense of identity and a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people. This experience will give them rich knowledge, skills and understanding to interpret how the past can shape their own future choices, attitudes and values-impelling them to be the best for today, tomorrow, each other, the wider world and God. We aspire to develop a school of historians; children immersed in and inspired by the past, brought alive by memorable learning experiences. As historians our children will gain the ability to research, interpret evidence, including primary and secondary sources, and gain the necessary skills to think critically and argue for their point of view. Skills that will help them in their adult life, preparing them for living and working in the contemporary world as global citizens and courageous advocates.

Our Aims

The aims of history are:

• To instil in the children a curiosity and understanding of events, places and people in a variety of times and environments.
• To develop an interest in the past and an appreciation of human achievements and aspirations
• To understand the values of our society
• To learn about the major issues and events in the history of our own country and of the world and how these events may have influenced one another
• To develop a knowledge of chronology within which the children can organise their understanding of the past
• To understand how the past was different from the present and that people of other times and places may have had different values and attitudes from ours
• To understand the nature of evidence by emphasising the process of enquiry and by developing the range of skills required to interpret primary and secondary source materials
• To distinguish between historical facts and the interpretation of those facts
• To understand that events have a multiplicity of causes and that historical explanation is provisional, debatable and sometimes controversial