Intent

We have high ambitions for all pupils at Langer to become skilled and knowledgeable historians. We want our history curriculum to prepare our children for future studies and careers in history through the development of knowledge, skills and curiosity needed for successful long-term retention of historical knowledge and understanding. The intent of teaching history here at Langer is to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding about the life of people who have lived in the past. We teach children the sense and skill of chronology, which develops a sense of identity and cultural understanding based on their own historical heritage. This allows comparisons to how those in other cultures have lived throughout history and such a multifaceted understanding of other’s cultures allows the children to make more informed decisions about their own life choices today. Alongside teaching a deep historical knowledge, the curriculum is shaped to develop skills to think like a historian. Developing children’s cultural understanding will in turn develop their cultural understanding and cultural capital. We intend to:

• To arouse interest in the past and stimulate children’s curiously into discovering more.
• To develop knowledge and understanding of how people lived in previous times across a range of cultures and use this to contrast to life today.
• To enable children to know significant events in British history, and to appreciate how these have changed over time.
• To develop a sense of chronology.
• To encourage thinking about cause and effect: how the past has influenced the present.
• To experience a range of representations of the past: to recognise there are differences of interpretations due to varying opinions of evidence.
• To understand how Britain is a wider part of European culture, and to compare European to British culture.
• To help children understand society and their place within it, developing a sense of citizenship and cultural heritage.
• To develop the skills of enquiry, investigation, analysis, evaluation and presentation in children. 

Implementation

We follow the National Curriculum and take an evidenced informed approach to history, following the CUSP curriculum. More information can be found here: https://www.unity-curriculum.co.uk/history/. History teaching focuses on enabling children to think like historians. We place an emphasis on examining historical artefacts, primary and secondary sources and encouraging children to draw conclusions from the evidence they have seen. We give the children the opportunity to visit sites of historical significance and give them the opportunity to develop their knowledge through a range of experiences: both trips, and visitors.  We recognise and value visitors sharing their experiences and stories of the past, and regard this as an important way of stimulating the children’s interest in the past. 

Historical skill is built on through each year group, alongside the subject knowledge: 

• Constructing the past – developing a deep, coherent knowledge of the civilization in focus.
• Sequencing the past/chronology – understanding where the civilization fits in into the wider historical picture.
• Continuity and change – comparing civilizations to ones previously taught, identifying what has remained the same and what has changed.
• Cause and effect – considering the impact of what past civilizations had on later civilization, and current life in Britain. 
• Significance and interpretation – considering the significance of events in history, including significant individuals. Recognising that interpretations may vary depending on who and what is being interpreted. 
• Carrying out a historical enquiry – Building to independent conclusions being drawn, interpreting sources and evidence.
• Using sources as evidence – recognizing artefacts, primary and secondary sources as evidence that informs us about the past, whilst recognising a range of interpretations may occur.
• Vocabulary and communication – ensuring a progression in vocabulary that is taught and used by children, describing periods of time, people and events in the past, and interpretation of facts. 

These will be taught through a variety of pedagogical approaches:

• Teacher presentations, role play, drama, storytelling.
• Discussions, debates, question and answer sessions.
• Individual and group research.
• Investigating artefacts and sources of evidence.
• Fieldwork and visits to sites of historical interest.
• Guest speakers and visitors to school.

Skills gained through the teaching of history

The teaching of coherent historical knowledge, through historical skill lens and a range of pedagogical approaches will ensure the pupils are active citizens. They will be provided opportunities to develop the skills of: 

• Communication, through reading and responding to a range of resources of information, when planning and carrying out historical enquiries, through taking part in discussion and presenting findings in a variety of ways.
• Application of number, when using dates to calculate length of time between events, building a chronological sense using timelines, and using data from databases within historical enquiry.
• Co-operation, through planning and carrying out historical enquiries that are class based or on a historical visit.
• Improving their own learning and performance, through reflecting on their work and learning, responding to marking and evaluating work of their peers.
• Problem-solving, through finding out about the past by investigating a specific question or issue within historical enquiry, deciding what information they need to know, what information is reliable and identifying relevant sources to inform their conclusions. 
• Cultural capital, through an understanding of a range of cultures and comparing them to each other and to our own.
• Financial understanding, through developing pupils’ understanding of the economic factors that affect people in different classes of society and the impact of economic and technological development on societies at different times in the past.

For pupils with SEND or an EHCP the curriculum will be adapted in order to meet their individual needs. Children will have a clearly sequenced pathway of progression through the curriculum. Scaffolding should offer small-step support for pupils that prompts their thinking to allow them to access the next step in learning. This could include, but is not limited to: resources, questioning, modelled examples, group work, adult intervention, mixed-attainment partners. Knowledge notes and organizers are used to support learning and retention with dual-coded prompts to support cognitive load and working memory. 

Impact

As a result of our history teaching, children are engaged and enjoy history. They see how their learning relates to previous learning and their own experiences, and are curious about the past. Learning is assessed, through summative and formative processes, and monitored to ensure that all pupils make good progress. Pupils have learnt vocabulary to enhance their understanding of history and can use it in context when discussing their learning. Pupils develop a chronological understanding of the world and the past, and have a strong cultural awareness and understanding.