For the long-term plan, please see below.

Intent

Our aim is to encourage St John’s pupils to develop an appreciation and understanding of how the past has shaped our lives. As historians, pupils are exposed to a rich and balanced curriculum that provides them with new vocabulary and facts. At St John’s, we aim to develop curious learners that reflect on the past and make meaningful links. The topics taught are specifically selected to build upon children’s understanding and organised to outline their skills, knowledge, and vocabulary in a coherent way, informed by the national curriculum and also sensitive to their interests. 

Implementation

History is taught in termly blocks throughout the year, so that children develop a deeper understanding to their learning. By the end of year 6, children will be secure in drawing comparisons and making connections between different time periods and how that has affected their own lives today. They will also have a good sense of chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. We start each new term with a ‘hook’ for learning to provide engagement, excitement, and a gateway into a new and exciting topic. History is embedded using cross-curricular outcomes, by creating strong links between the history curriculum and literacy lessons. History provides excellent opportunities to support all learning abilities through investigations, outdoor learning and analysing sources. Educational visits are a key part of our history curriculum, as they offer opportunities for learning outside the classroom, in which our children have explored local museums and had visitors to enhance their learning experiences. 

Impact

Outcomes in topic and literacy, evidence a broad and balanced history curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of key knowledge. Through our creative curriculum, pupils learn to think critically, ask questions and evaluate evidence sources. Progression in history is built on their knowledge, understanding and key skills. These are broken into Year group expectations, which are monitored through:

• Interviewing pupils on their learning (pupil voice)
• Book trawls
• Marking of work against the schools marking policy
• Teachers inputting data on a passport Tracker

For the long-term plan, please see below.