Key Purpose
Why is this subject important?

• History develops pupils’ understanding of their place in the world which in turn promotes curiosity and fascination,
• History allows us to understand our past which, as a result, allows us to understand our present. If we study the successes and failures of the past, we can learn from our mistakes to improve our future,
• Studying history can provide us with insight into our cultures of origin as well as cultures with which we might be less familiar, thereby increasing cross-cultural awareness and understanding,
• Studying history allows us to exercise our critical thinking skills.

Key Principles
What are the distinctive ways of knowing, working and learning in this subject?

• Our pupils gain real-life experiences and learn about history in an active and creative way. From experiencing a prehistoric day with Stone Age hunter gatherers to becoming a WWII evacuee during modern Britain and being evacuated on a steam train,
• A wide variety of teaching approaches are used in history lessons to ensure children make good progress and all learning styles are catered for,
• We use historical artefacts and resources to support our teaching,
• We give children the opportunity to visit sites of historical significance,
• We encourage visitors to come into the school and talk about their experiences of events in the school,
• We recognise and value the importance of stories in history teaching and we regard this as an important way of stimulating interesting in the past and have key texts linked to each topic,
• We focus on helping children understand that history events can be interpreted in different ways and that they should always ask searching questions, such as ‘how do we know?’, about information that they are given,
• All classrooms embrace a learning environment designed to ensure children develop their history knowledge and continue to know more and remember more,
• Subject specific vocabulary is introduced and revisited to expand the terminology used.

Expectations
What does success look like in this subject?

• Pupils will gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world,
• Pupils’ will be curious to know more about the past,
• Pupils will ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement,
• Pupils will 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.