History

Widey Court is situated in the city of Plymouth in the South West of England. Our location has influenced the decisions made in designing this curriculum. As a coastal city and historic port, there is a strong need for pupils to understand themes of explorers and conflicts and how Plymouth has impacted on local, national and international history. Through using the concepts of empire, civilisation, impact and influence, culture, relationships and movement each unit will be shaped by these concepts.  Each unit builds from the prior knowledge gained and enables our children to think deeper about their understanding of History. Deliberate curriculum choices have been made to enable the children to conduct historical enquiry both in the class and through fieldwork and trips wherever possible. Our curriculum refers to the rich archaeological and historic treasures and sites available on our doorstep. Choices have been made to facilitate the best possible retention of learnt facts through a sequential curriculum where children revisit key concepts throughout their primary career.

History follows the National Curriculum; objectives are delivered through units building to children being able to answer an enquiry question- a fewer things greater depth approach is taken with History. Children complete a timeline at the start of each year to embed their chronological knowledge and revisit this throughout each unit. The substantive concepts ensure skills specific to History are taught each multiple times across each child’s primary career at Widey, they are based on the aims of the national curriculum. The curriculum makes use of prior knowledge and provides clear references on how learning will be used in each unit and each lesson. Children will enjoy school trips, welcome visitors and view artefacts– all of which works to enrich their experience within History.

Phases of History :

1. Revise: including ROCKS, recap of previous substantive concepts (longer reaching ROCKS), chronological order of units taught.

2. Enquiry- using primary and secondary sources, children answering their own questions, learning in unit context with links to substantive concepts, understanding the chronology of time within the unit and the wider scale of time.

3. Review – Answering the enquiry question, reviewing links between substantive concepts, building their knowledge of chronological time.

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Through lesson observations and children interviews, children will be able to demonstrate their increasing knowledge of historical skills. Children will be able to recall known facts that have been taught and gain a deeper understanding of the substantive concepts over time, making links between different historical periods.