History

History is the cement which holds together all the subjects of the curriculum because the story of the past is the measure of human development in the present. We believe that history not only provides us with a body of knowledge concerning the past but it also provides us with a way of thinking which the child, in the future, will apply to modern problems. We place great emphasis on teaching the skills of enquiry in regard to evidence, assessing its reliability and relevance, and applying it to reasoned judgement in order to give a logical account and explanation.

All children will:

• be taught about and investigate important episodes and developments in Britain's past, from the Stone Age
• to modern times, about ancient civilisations, local history and the history of other parts of the world
• be helped to develop a chronological framework by making links across the different study units
• have the opportunity to learn about the past from a range of sources of information
• develop an awareness of the past and discover that we can find out about it by examining evidence from a variety of sources
• develop the skills of discussing, observing, questioning, hypothesizing, sharing and comparing
• be taught to understand the concepts of change and continuity
• acquire knowledge and understanding of the lives of the specific peoples under study.

KS.2 History Programme of Study

Rationale:

• The eight units have been spread out evenly over the four years of KS.2, deliberately leaving the middle term of each year free. This gives teachers a choice, either to continue the previous term's study, start the next term's early or plan it as a non-history teaching term.
• The British study units have been planned in chronological order: Pre-History, Romans, Anglo-Saxons (before Alfred the Great), Anglo-Saxons (struggles), and a study of British history after 1066.
• The local history study has been incorporated with two of the British history units.
• The 'open British history study' is at the end of Year 6 because it makes sense chronologically and because it gives Year 6 teachers the flexibility to plan in and around the SATs.
• The three 'non-British' units have been mapped with the Ancient Egyptians first, chronologically this makes sense; it also makes sense for other reasons:
  1. The cultural 'story' of Ancient Egypt revolves around the myth of the weighing of the heart and the legend of Seth and Osiris. These are both accessible to children of Year 4.
  2. The iconography of wall paintings and hieroglyphics seems to hold a fascination with young children and along with the pantheon of Egyptian Gods seems more accessible than their Ancient Greek counter-parts.
  3. The history study of Ancient Greece is focused on the achievements and influences of it's great thinkers, architects, and story-tellers. These (it could be argued) are a much more demanding subjects and probably better understood by older children.