Inspire History

Intent

At Larkrise Primary School, we inspire our children through the History Curriculum, which we have developed based on the National Curriculum for History and Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage where the foundation of historical knowledge and skills are evident in ‘Understanding the World’. 

‘A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.’ Marcus Garvey

Inspire Knowledge and Skills: Children will leave Larkrise with a good understanding of the history of their local area and historical and contemporary Oxford. They should recognise how British history and wider world events have shaped our society from prehistoric times to the present day. At Larkrise, we emphasise the importance of historical interpretation and help children to understand that sources may be unreliable or present a particular perspective, with the aim of ensuring children think critically about the information in front of them. 

Inspire Creativity & Adventure: At Larkrise, we help children to begin to make sense of the world around them from the earliest age, by encouraging children to be curious, asking ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions and supporting them to answer in a way most appropriate to their age and understanding. We want children to experience adventure by being immersed in the history topics through the use of drama, artefacts and educational visits. 

Inspire Kindness: We want children to understand that different versions of the past may exist and to listen respectfully to the different interpretations of the sources that are presented to them. The History Curriculum allows children to be respectful and aware of differences, regardless of their own opinions. 

Our Schemes of Work for History are structured across the following areas of learning which can be found in our History Progression Grids. 

Implementation 

In the EYFS and KS1, children focus primarily on history within living memory, using primary and secondary sources to find answers to their questions. 

Children in KS1 also engage with figures from history who have contributed to national and international achievements, with an emphasis on those who defied expectations to change the world around them. 

From KS2, children engage with ‘periods’ of history for the first time, building chronological understanding by focusing on topics from the Stone Age to the twentieth century and beyond. These topics will be linked to each other for children to understand the chronology and make comparisons. Lessons may be weekly or blocked, depending on the focus. In each topic, the learning is linked to a trip, visit, experience or analysing of artefacts to provide a real-life context. 

We have chosen aspects of history that enable children to pursue important themes relevant to them to make sense of the world today and which link to our values of kindness, creativity and adventure. These include society and power, empire and invasion, innovation and defying stereotypes and expectations, and fairness and discrimination. These themes are pursued and revisited in most areas of historical study as well as other curricular areas to develop a three-dimensional understanding of these concepts. We embed and revisit key vocabulary to develop children’s understanding as they move from EYFS, through KS1 to KS2.

Assessment is ongoing with low-stakes quizzes within lessons to reinforce learning within each unit and pre- and post-topic quizzes. Within each unit of learning, explicit links are made to prior learning, including from earlier years, to reinforce understanding and support children to make links across periods studied. Learning from history will influence understanding and outcomes in other areas of the curriculum, particularly evident in English writing outcomes.  

Like all areas of our Inspire Curriculum, we have used research evidence to develop our teaching and learning pedagogy. For more information, please see our Inclusive Quality First Teaching Key Principles.

Impact

By the time children in Year 6 leave us, we want them to have the following experiences and understanding: 

Inspire Knowledge and Skills:

• Have a secure knowledge of the chronology of British history
• Be able to make connections and contrasts and identify links and trends over time and across time periods.
• Developed the appropriate use of specific historical terms

Inspire Creativity & Adventure:

• Use a range of sources and understand their strengths/weaknesses
• Describe/make links between main events, situations and changes within and across different periods/societies
• Be immersed in topics in a variety of contexts, including taking part in a variety of trips, visits and experiences
• Recognise how British life and culture have been shaped over time by a huge range of influences from all over the world
• Have an understanding of the similarities and differences between British and wider world history
• Know ways that humans in the past have contributed to innovation for society and exploration of the world

Inspire Kindness: 

• Regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions.
• Construct informed responses by selecting and organising relevant historical information.
• Know how people’s lives have been impacted by decisions made by significant individuals in the past have affected lives.
• Be able to compare modern ideas of fairness and equality to societies of the past and present.

More information on the impact of the Curriculum can be seen in our celebration Magazine, ‘Larkrise Look’.