History
History at Shiney Row Primary School
History Curriculum
At Shiney Row Primary School, we offer a high-quality history education that helps children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We have a clear focus on our own locality to ensure our rich history and heritage is at the forefront of everything we do. It inspires children’ curiosity to know more about the past, as well as equipping them with the skills to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. We help children to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. This prepares them well for the next stages in the education.
During a pupil’s journey, our history curriculum builds on the knowledge and understanding of the world that children develop throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage. We have carefully designed and sequenced our history curriculum to clearly set out the vocabulary, knowledge and skills pupils gain at each stage of their learning, ensuring strong progression and a secure understanding of chronology.
In our history curriculum, progression is broken down into the following key areas:
- Topic knowledge – investigating key figures or events from historical periods; examining how aspects of life have developed over time.
- Chronological awareness – understanding how historical periods interconnect, overlap and impact each other.
- Substantive (abstract) concepts – recurring themes, key concepts and fundamental elements of historical knowledge, such as ’religion’, ‘society’ ‘trade’ and ‘achievements’.
- Disciplinary concepts – learning how historians investigate the past and how they construct historical claims.
- Historical enquiry – experiencing the process that historians use; navigating historical concepts by questioning, investigating, interpreting, evaluating, concluding and communicating.
Our aim is to provide a broad and balanced History curriculum that develops pupils’ understanding of Britain’s past, including local history, alongside that of the wider world. Through engaging and meaningful learning experiences, pupils develop secure historical knowledge, skills and vocabulary, as well as curiosity and a love for history.