History

"A high quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils' curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people's lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time." Purpose of Study. The 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England.

Intent

At Mudeford Junior School we deliver an engaging history curriculum that is designed to enable the children to not only ‘learn about history’ but also to ‘think and behave as historians’. We want our pupils to be immersed in and inspired by history – developing transferable skills alongside a clear progression of knowledge.

At Mudeford, the history curriculum is planned to promote pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. As our pupils progress, our teaching should equip pupils to think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. The children are encouraged to pose and respond to historical key questions.

We aim to develop an understanding of British history, within the context of the wider world, thereby developing in all children a sense of who they are locally, nationally and globally. Because of this, we teach history as a discrete subject but will always look for cross curricular opportunities where this is beneficial for the children and their development as learners and historians.

The history curriculum at Mudeford Junior makes use of resources within the immediate and wider local area enabling children to develop an understanding of the rich history of their locality. This includes a visit to a local Iron Age settlement and a study of Bournemouth as a Victorian seaside town. Our planning progresses mostly chronologically from year 3 – with some units of study allowing us to draw contemporaneous links with other periods of previously studied history. Our upper key stage 2 pupils explore the more challenging concepts of: democracy; what could be perceived as Maya brutality; and the challenges faced by lower class working Victorian children.

Our history curriculum is designed to ensure that when pupils leave our school they have:

An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods, including significant events in Britain’s past;
The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas confidently to a range of audiences;
The ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical evidence from a range of sources;
The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry;
A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make critical use of it to support their learning;
A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics;
A developing sense of curiosity about the past and how and why people interpret the past in different ways.