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History Curriculum Statement

History is an integral part of the curriculum here at Chesterton CE Primary School, as it forms a key part of many of our favourite topics. We believe that History capitalises on a child's natural curiosity about the past in both Britain and the wider world. Throughout a broad study of History, pupils consider how the past influences the present, what societies were like and how beliefs and cultures influenced people's actions. As they do this, pupils develop a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people.

Our intent is to engage and develop the children's fascination by encouraging them to think of and ask critical questions. In addition, their journey through the historical framework, throughout their time at Chesterton, will also enable each child to have a clearer understanding of the society they live in, alongside that of the wider world and to learn lessons which are valuable from the actions of previous generations.

At Chesterton CE Primary School, we aim to bring history to life by immersing children in realistic experiences both in school and on exciting educational visits linked to our topic areas. Our History curriculum has been carefully designed to enable children to have a real understanding of their place in History through a topic-based approach and hands-on experiences wherever possible. This approach is used to deliver the content within a meaningful context and, wherever possible, cross-curricular links are exploited. History is taught within each year group of our school, starting as 'Understanding of the World' in our Foundation Stage. In addition, our Medium Term Planning is used to ensure the correct coverage of both the required knowledge and the subject specific skills. There is a strong emphasis on developing children's other skills, such as understanding of chronology, interpretations of evidence, changes within a time and across time periods and cause and consequence.

The children's history outcomes are documented in their Topic books, which show a broad and balanced History curriculum and evidence their key knowledge and skills acquired during each unit of work. In addition to Topic books, children are also given the opportunity to share their learning with each other and to their parents/carers through sharing assemblies and performances to other learners. These History outcomes for the children are key to developing their motivation to learn and to develop their sense of responsibility and accountability as future citizens, which is at the heart of all our historical teaching and learning.

Curriculum Progression: History

Early Years Progression: Understanding the World - History