Subject Overview

At Eldon, we want our pupils to gain a coherent understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We believe that high-quality history lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past and to think and act as historians. By linking learning to a range of topics, children have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, ask perceptive questions, understand chronology, build an overview of Britain’s past as well as that of the wider world, and to be able to communicate historically. Children will learn to think critically using sources of evidence to support their opinion. They should understand how people’s lives have changed, how diverse societies were, and the challenges that were faced.

Intent:  

We develop children with the following essential characteristics to help them become historians:  

• An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods, including significant events in Britain’s past;  
• Learning about the concept of chronology, which underpins children's developing sense of period, as well as key concepts such as change and causation.  

• 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.  

Implementation:  

Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding around the following learning hooks: 

• Investigate and interpret the past  

• Build an overview of world history  
• Understand chronology  
• Communicate historically 

These key concepts underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language. As part of the planning process, teachers need to plan the following:  

• A knowledge organiser which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary) all children must master;  

• A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth;  
• A low stakes quiz which is tested regularly to support learners’ ability to block learning and increase space in the working memory;  
• Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner;  
• Eldon’s vehicles such as the timeline, time capsule and 4D immersive room to enhance learning;
• Trips and visiting experts and volunteers, including Eldon’s Elders, who will enhance the learning experience;  

Impact:  

Our History Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:  

• We use comparative judgement in two ways: in the tasks we set and in comparing children’s work over time;
• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes;  
• A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school;  
• Pupil discussions about their learning; 
• Lesson observations to see if the pedagogical style matches our depth expectations