History

History

History is the study of the past. When learning history, we explore chronological understanding, knowledge of events in the past and historical enquiry. History is a fantastic subject to learn as it makes people reflect upon past experiences; it builds necessary enquiry skills and it helps people feel a sense of self in a wider context.

We all live in the present and we plan for the future – but how do we understand where we are going and what progress looks like? To know exactly where you are going, you first need to understand where you have come from and this is where history comes into the picture.

Chronological Understanding

When studying changes in a culture or society, it is important to know what key events contributed to such changes and why they were so important. This can lead to an extensive list of times, dates and people to learn and one effective method for doing this involves the use of historical timelines. Timelines use chronology – events in order – to show different past events, facts and people that played a role in the past. They also include historical periods and how frequent and how long events happened within a certain historical period. Historical timelines can be vertical or horizontal and they come with pictures, dates and extra information.

Using chronology

Knowledge of the Past

Subject knowledge allows us to delve deeper into the past and understand how culture, daily life and different civilisations differ from that of our modern twenty-first century world. Historical knowledge interacts so that pupils’ knowledge of other past societies, recurring terms and concepts of broader chronological frameworks help them to learn and retain knowledge. The knowledge people acquire from events in the past gives them a sense of contemporary national identity and commitment. It reflects many factors:

Culture - arising from a definable common culture.
Birth right - handed down from parents to their children, but without a geographical location.
Heritage - including a society’s values and attitudes.
Ethnicity - linking to particular ethnic groups.
Religion - the criterion dependent upon religious identity.
History - stories, narratives, accounts and identity.

Through studying history, we can learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures and technologies were built; how they operated and how they have changed over time. The rich history of the world helps us to paint a detailed picture of where we stand today. Developing your knowledge of history means developing your knowledge of all these different aspects of life.

Immersing in history through drama.

Using computing to enhance history learning

Historical Enquiry

Historians make claims and construct accounts of the past within established traditions of historical enquiry. Historical enquiry is a particular form of knowledge construction, which includes asking valid questions and finding answers. It is different from simply guessing, as with practice pupils acquire knowledge about the ways in which historians create arguments and accounts.

Everything we do, use and study is the product of a complex set of causes, ideas and practices coming from past experiences. Even the material we learn in other courses has important historical elements – whether because our understanding of a topic changed over time or because the discipline takes a historical perspective.

Our school curriculum is underpinned by the expectations set out in the National Curriculum for history and as such, it creates opportunities for children to develop their critical thinking; enhance chronological understanding; make historical links through enquiry and acquire knowledge of past events.

Historical enquiries using artefacts

History Curriculum

As a school we have been using the guidelines and schemes from the Historical Association website to enhance the delivery of our history teaching. The schemes of work they provide help our teachers in delivering engaging lessons helping to raise standards and allow all pupils to achieve their full potential.

In our school, our pupils learn to become historians following these learning guidelines below, which are embedded in the daily teaching of history.

Children learn specific historical terms during their history learning. The list of words used is progressive so they are re-visited as children move through topics.

History - Progression Vocabulary