History

Intent

At Edgware, we want the children to have a clear understanding of historical events, a sense of chronology and an ability to talk about significant events in the past. We are committed to equipping pupils with both substantive and disciplinary knowledge to provide them with a coherent knowledge of, and curiosity about, the past. We believe that by learning History, children develop their identity as citizens the word- understanding their place in the world community and equipping them to engage and challenge current issues, social injustice and work to improve the world they live in. 

Our aims are to:

• Understand historical concepts
• Foster an interest in the past and compare it with the present day. 
• Enable children to know about significant events in British history and to appreciate how things have changed overtime
• Develop a sense of chronology
• Know and understand how the British system of democratic government has developed
• Have solid understanding of British values 
• Develop an inquisitive mind and ask questions about historical events, places and people
• Have some knowledge and understanding of historical development in the wider world
• Make connections between British, local and world history
• Help children understand society and their place within it, so that they develop a sense of their cultural heritage
• Develop the skills of enquiry, investigation, analysis, evaluation and presentation

Implementation

We teach a broad curriculum, which reflects the school’s rich diversity of families, staff and children and covers both British and world history, from ancient times to modern day.  

Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each unit and theses are mapped across the school, ensuring that knowledge builds progressively and that children develop skills systematically.

We have an enquiry-led, knowledge-rich and skills-based approach to developing young historians;

Children will be given a knowledge organiser at the start of each topic, which details some key information, dates and vocabulary to support children in their acquisition of knowledge and as a reference document;

Existing knowledge is checked at the beginning of each topic. This ensures that teaching is informed by the children’s starting points;

Tasks are selected and designed to provide appropriate challenge to all learners, in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion;

At the end of each topic, key knowledge is reviewed by the children and checked by the teacher and consolidated as necessary

Children are given opportunities, where possible, to study artefacts, leading to enquiry, investigation and interpretation;

Through Investigation, children develop enquiry and problem-solving skills and also learn how past events have influenced our lives today. We do this by using rich texts, researching, using various sources, museum trips, visitors. 

Each year group will teach either history or geography each half term. This allows pupils time to explore the topics in depth. 

Acquisition of knowledge is key to the curriculum. Units are chronologically sequenced to allow pupils to build on their previous knowledge and develop a secure knowledge of local, British and world history. 

The children will study events both within and beyond living memory and identify similarities and difference between different periods. We have chosen some units to be out of sequence but feel that these are relevant to the age of children and what they can understand. Children are however shown where that part of history 'sits' within a timeline. 

Children are encouraged to ask questions, think critically, develop perspective and judgement, investigate using different sources and present their findings.