History

Step back in time…

How do you know who you are unless you know where you’ve come from? How can you tell what’s going to happen, unless you know what’s happened before? History isn’t just about the past. It’s about why we are who we are – and about what’s next. 

Tony Robinson, Actor and Television Presenter

Intent

At Bewsey Lodge, it is our aim to provide a high-quality history curriculum which inspires in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the past in both Britain and the wider world. Historical concepts, skills, vocabulary, and knowledge underpin many of our curriculum topics and are sequenced to ensure a deep understanding of the content taught.  Our long term topic plan, which is underpinned by the National Curriculum, is designed to ensure all required content is delivered and that opportunities to revisit and build upon learning are incorporated. Teachers use defined learning objectives for each unit of study which enable them to see what has been taught previously so that learning can be revisited and extended accordingly. An example of this can be found below: 

y3_learning_objectives_.pdf

Implementation

We have a thematic approach to teaching the National Curriculum. When History is taught, it is the predominant subject which other subjects centre around. For instance, in the Year 3 topic, ‘Would you rather live in the Stone Age or Iron Age?’ the children develop their understanding of key historical concepts, including change and continuity, during their history lessons. Their understanding of this period is further enhanced in other subjects. For example, in science lessons, the children consider how rocks were used as tools by the early hunter-gatherers. Children write their own stories based on the book ‘The Stone Age Boy’ as well as instructions for how to survive the Stone Age. In art lessons, children look at cave paintings and animals from the Store Age era, using the work of Steven Brown to inspire their own paintings.

Likewise, in Year 6 when learning about the Ancient Greeks and the influence they have had on our lives today, the children study Ancient Greek myths – including the tale of ‘Perseus and Medusa’ - before retelling the story from a different perspective and following this up with a newspaper report. In art, the children create their own prints based on the myth ‘Pandora’s Box’ and in Design and Technology lessons, the children try and make a range of Greek dishes.  

Where possible, we enhance topics and History teaching through workshops, visits, and educational trips. Past excursions have included a trip to London to understand the impact of WW2 on our capital city; seeing theatre shows like ‘Horrible Histories: The Egyptians’ and exploring Roman history in Chester.

Artefacts from Warrington Museum further enhance learning, allowing hands-on experiences and an opportunity for children to develop their historical enquiry skills. Local history, including the study of RMS Tayleur, described as the “first Titanic” and WW2's impact on Warrington, is woven into our curriculum to make history meaningful and exciting for our students.

“I love it when we get to use artefacts. It helps me imagine what life was like in the past.”

Oliver, Y6 Pupil

Impact

We have an open-question approach to assessing the impact of our teaching and learning in History. At the end of each unit, children are required to recall and apply knowledge to answer a given open ended question. Teachers then use this work, and the evidence from books and lessons, to form a judgement about whether a child is working at the required standard, below or above. An example of these standards can be found in the file below.

y5_history_assessment_overview.pdf

We also assess acquired knowledge by giving the children a knowledge based pre and post quiz. This information may feed into the teacher assessment too.

History in Early Years
Photos coming soon

History in KS1
Here the children are using photos to find out about space travel in the past as part of their learning about the significant individual Neil Armstrong.

History in KS2

A trip to the Museum!
The children in Year 3 and 4 visited Warrington Museum to find out more about the Ancient Egyptians. They had so much fun and learnt a lot about the process of mummification.