History
What does the National Curriculum say about History?
'A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.'
Characteristics of a Historian
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An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events, and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts and processes.
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The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
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The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
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The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
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A passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways.
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A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgements.
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A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics.
Implementation
Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding around the following learning hooks:
- Investigate and interpret the past
- Build an overview of world history
- Understand chronology
- Communicate historically
These key concepts or as we like to explain them to children – learning hooks, underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language.
The vertical accumulation of knowledge and skills from Years 1 to 6 is mapped as follows:
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Threshold Concept Key Skills |
Milestone 1 Years 1 and 2 |
Milestone 2 Years 3 and 4 |
Milestone 3 Years 5 and 6 |
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Investigate and interpret the past |
Observe or handle evidence to ask questions and find answers to questions about the past. • Ask questions such as: What was it like for people? What happened? How long ago? • Use artefacts, pictures, stories, online sources and databases to find out about the past. • Identify some of the different ways the past has been represented.
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• Use evidence to ask questions and find answers to questions about the past. • Suggest suitable sources of evidence for historical enquiries. • Use more than one source of evidence for historical enquiry in order to gain a more accurate understanding of history. • Describe different accounts of a historical event, explaining some of the reasons why the accounts may differ. • Suggest causes and consequences of some of the main events and changes in history.
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• Use sources of evidence to deduce information about the past. • Select suitable sources of evidence, giving reasons for choices. • Use sources of information to form testable hypotheses about the past. • Seek out and analyse a wide range of evidence in order to justify claims about the past. • Show an awareness of the concept of propaganda and how historians must understand the social context of evidence studied. • Understand that no single source of evidence gives the full answer to questions about the past. • Refine lines of enquiry as appropriate.
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Build an overview of world history |
• Describe historical events. • Describe significant people from the past. • Recognise that there are reasons why people in the past acted as they did.
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• Describe changes that have happened in the locality of the school throughout history. • Give a broad overview of life in Britain from ancient until medieval times. • Compare some of the times studied with those of other areas of interest around the world. • Describe the social, ethnic, cultural or religious diversity of past society. • Describe the characteristic features of the past, including ideas, beliefs, attitudes and experiences of men, women and children.
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• Identify continuity and change in the history of the locality of the school. • Give a broad overview of life in Britain from medieval until the Tudor and Stuarts times. • Compare some of the times studied with those of the other areas of interest around the world. • Describe the social, ethnic, cultural or religious diversity of past society. • Describe the characteristic features of the past, including ideas, beliefs, attitudes and experiences of men, women and children.
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Understand chronology |
• Place events and artefacts in order on a time line. • Label time lines with words or phrases such as: past, present, older and newer. • Recount changes that have occurred in their own lives. • Use dates where appropriate.
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• Place events, artefacts and historical figures on a time line using dates. • Understand the concept of change over time, representing this, along with evidence, on a time line. • Use dates and terms to describe events.
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• Describe the main changes in a period of history (using terms such as: social, religious, political, technological and cultural). • Identify periods of rapid change in history and contrast them with times of relatively little change. • Understand the concepts of continuity and change over time, representing them, along with evidence, on a time line. • Use dates and terms accurately in describing events.
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Communicate historically |
• Use words and phrases such as: a long time ago, recently, when my parents/carers were children, years, decades and centuries to describe the passing of time. • Show an understanding of the concept of nation and a nation’s history. • Show an understanding of concepts such as civilisation, monarchy, parliament, democracy, and war and peace.
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• Use appropriate historical vocabulary to communicate, including: • dates • time period • era • change • chronology. • Use literacy, numeracy and computing skills to a good standard in order to communicate information about the past.
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• Use appropriate historical vocabulary to communicate, including: • dates • time period • era • chronology • continuity • change • century • decade • legacy. • Use literacy, numeracy and computing skills to an exceptional standard in order to communicate information about the past. • Use original ways to present information and ideas.
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Aspirations For The Future
Pupils develop an understanding of how subjects and specific skills are linked to future jobs.
Here are some of the jobs you could aspire to do in the future as a Historian:
- Member of Parliament
- Curator
- Publicity Assistant
- Tour Guide