History

Vision

At Heybrook, we believe it is our responsibility to offer our children the opportunities to develop their understanding of Britain's past, as well as that of the wider world. We want our curriculum to inspire our pupil's curiosity about the past and provide children with the opportunities to ask questions, think critically and develop perspective and judgement. We understand that many of our children may have limited understanding of historical identity so we are committed to developing our children's perspective of life in the past. We believe that history provides a means of exploring, investigating and interpreting historical evidence whilst offering a wider understanding of the chronology of the world in which we live. Our vocabulary-rich history curriculum not only develops our pupils' historical knowledge and skills, but also looks to broaden their cultural awareness and be empathetic towards past events. We are committed to providing our children with immersive historical experiences (such as visits and workshops) as part of our enrichment.

Aims

We aim to:

• Inspire a curiosity and fascination of the past and the people that have shaped our lives
• Develop our children's understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways
• Impart key knowledge involving time, historical impact and significance
• Teach key historical concepts such as change and chronology, interpreting sources and using historical evidence to impart knowledge
• Develop our pupil's cultural awareness as well as gaining historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts
• Foster a sense of pride in the history of their local area and in that of the UK as a whole
• Provide a rich array of enrichment activities including visits to historical sites and historical workshops
• Make links to our wider curriculum with a view to building our children's schema of knowledge

Curriculum map

Our curriculum map for history clearly sets out the sequence of learning in this subject:

History Curriculum Map 2024-25

*Please note that some history topics are taught alongside geography if clear links are identified between the two humanities disciplines (E.g. Year 1 - London and Queen Elizabeth II).

Policy

Our history policy provides further details on how the subject is organised:
History Policy 2024-25

What our children say

I think history is super fun because we learn about the past. We do lots of group work which means I get to work with different people.

My favourite topic was Boudica because it was very mysterious. There were rumours that she poisoned herself during the attack on her!

I love the 'Sparkling Starts' at the beginning of a topic. My favourite was when we painted our faces like the Celts!

I like history because we learn about Neil Armstrong who was the first man on the moon.

What it looks like

History at Heybrook