History

Intent

Our history curriculum has been carefully designed to bring history to life by helping children to view it through the lens of local events, artefacts and places.
We want to encourage children to ask questions about their local area and the history behind it, whether that involves wondering about how King Henry VIII nearly brought the production of Wensleydale Cheese to an early demise or exploring why Bainbridge & West Burton villages still have stocks on the village green.
As they think about these questions, they will learn about broader UK and world history so that, by the time they leave primary school, they have a sound chronological knowledge as well as an excellent understanding of some of the concepts that underpin this fascinating subject.

Implementation

Each term, our planning begins with a question about a local aspect of the historical period being studied (see long term planning documents on the right-hand side).
As they explore this historical period, children learn how to be historians through their thinking about six key disciplinary themes: change & continuity, cause & consequence, similarity & difference, handling evidence, historical interpretations and historical significance. One or more lessons each term focusses on one of these themes.
In addition, conceptual pathways are developed over the course of the child’s primary career so that they gradually build up their understanding of six concepts that bring together the various different units and enable the children to progressively build their understanding of history in the round. These concepts are: civilisation, empire, religion, agriculture, government, migration and agriculture.

Impact

By the end of their primary career, all of our children will have developed conceptual maps of understanding that will enable them to further explore history in KS3 with confidence and a degree of expertise. They will have learnt the disciplinary skills that lie at the heart of historical enquiry and, we hope, will have grown to love history as an exciting subject in which they have all the tools they need to succeed.

For more information about our History curriculum, please contact our History Subject Leader:

Mr Scott Greenway (based at Askrigg) [email protected]