HISTORY

Intent 

Our pupils will be inspired by and curious about History. Pupils will leave Coppermill with a solid grasp of chronology, as well as the ability to think like historians and to examine, evaluate and reflect, enabling them to develop an understanding of how events in history have shaped the world. Pupils will make connections between the areas they study and by the end of Year 6, will have acquired a broad and deep knowledge of regional, national and international history and have developed their critical thinking skills. They will understand that there are different interpretations of historical events and that these can change over time and are dependent on context.  They will be confident in discussing the key themes of change and continuity, similarity and difference, cause and effect, chronology and significance and reliability of sources. They will ask and answer challenging historical questions that make links between events, developments, peoples and periods in the past.

Implementation

At Coppermill we teach History through an enquiry led approach. Over the course of a topic, lessons follow a mapped progression which lead to the children answering an overarching enquiry question at the end of the unit. History is taught twice weekly during a History half term ensuring that children recall key knowledge and skills, develop their understanding of chronology and make links between topics and periods of History. Lessons are developed to be accessible to all learners, with a focus on oracy and debate as well as the use of drama and other creative activities. At the end of each lesson, children record their key learning on a 'concept map' which enables both the children and the teacher to track their learning across the unit. Key vocabulary is carefully chosen and displayed in classrooms to regularly support knowledge retention and retrieval and children refer to timelines of events throughout the units. At the start of each lesson, teachers begin with 'flashback 4' questions which link both to prior learning for the current unit, as well as helping children to make links between their current topic and topics and time periods studied in previous years. Teachers continuously assess children’s progress in history through questioning, observing and checking understanding and responding to children's answers to the unit enquiry question. 

Impact

The impact of our History curriculum is measured through teacher assessment of children's progress in each unit. Teachers are able to assess children's acquisition of historical knowledge, skills and concepts through ongoing assessment in lessons (through questioning and on the spot marking) as well as through children's recording on their concept maps. Teachers also mark and respond to children's answers to the enquiry question and use this to identify gaps in knowledge and skills.  The humanities subject lead will also engage in monitoring, both through book looks and dialogue with children about their learning (pupil voice). Examples of good practice are then shared with staff and teachers are supported by the subject lead, where necessary, in planning and delivering lessons.

Click below to see our History skills progression document.