History

Our intent is that our teaching of History will help children gain coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. History is one of our subject drivers for Projects linked to our Project-Based approach. We work to develop each child’s understanding of chronology as well as a knowledge and understanding of how the local area has changed over time. History is split into 4 key concepts: Investigate and Interpret the Past, Understanding Chronology, Build an overview of World History and Communicate Historically, with units of work allocated to each Key Concept. Visitors, themed days and school visits are an integral part of our History Curriculum to develop a deeper understanding of the time periods studied and to inspire the children so that they have a lifelong love of History.

Our intent is for children to have:

An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts and processes.

The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
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.
The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
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.
A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgments.

A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics

We implement our History approach through: 

In EYFS, we implement History through exploring key historical vocabulary and learning key calendar events, remembering our learning through our Learning Journey Working Wall. We follow children’s interest but promote further challenge through adult interactions and by providing books to learn about historical events. 
Project books reflect what is being taught, showing vocabulary, used, relevant diagrams, photos and knowledge organisers.
Project books that are high quality and evidence the high expectations of learning

Knowledge Organisers to enable children to remember what they have been taught long term.
A creative and innovative approach using a range of high-quality resources including links with Durham University.  
Using a core text and supplement texts to link knowledge across the curriculum.
Excellent teacher subject knowledge and high order questioning 
Learning across the curriculum is sequentially planned to build on knowledge and skill
The use of mini quizzes and retrieval techniques to develop children’s long-term memory on what they have been taught.
Visitors, themed days and school visits are an integral part of our History Curriculum to develop a deeper understanding of the time periods studied and to inspire the children so that they have a lifelong love of History
End of Project celebrations where children show case their learning to parents through Open Afternoons or to the rest of the school in special assemblies.
The ‘Broadening our Horizons’ units where key figures from minority backgrounds are studied and celebrated.

We have identified a set of key substantive concepts known as our ‘golden threads’, that the children will repeatedly revisit throughout their time at Sinnington. Our golden threads are: Monarchy, Government, Empire, Democracy, Religion, Invasion, Exploration, Settlement, Invention. Each unit may not include every 'thread', but over a year, children will visit each one more than once.

The National Curriculum provides a structure and skill development for the History curriculum being taught. Our Projects are driven by History (where relevant) to provide a creative approach, which reflects a balanced programme of study.

History_Scheme_of_Learning.pdf

History_Skills_Progression.pdf

The impact of our History approach is children understand our past and their ancestors. They are passionate about History and its significance today. 