History

Our Vision

At Forest Edge, our children will leave us with an enthusiasm for history, which is underpinned by a secure chronological understanding. They will have an understanding of local, national and world history and be equipped with the skills that they need to become lifelong historians.

Subject Leader: Elaine Bailey

elaine.bailey@forestedge.org.uk

"You have to know the past to understand the present."

- Carl Sagan

Intent

Our aim is to ignite a passion for history within our students and instil a curiosity in them that drives them to discover more about past time periods and civilisations, and the impact they have had on our lives today. By developing their inquiry-based approaches, we hope to foster an interest in local, national and world history in all pupils that both reflects their own ancestry and the history of others around the world. Our curriculum has been designed to capture the children’s interest and enthusiasm and allow them to study each time period in a way that builds their chronological understanding and identifies the links between civilisations and periods.  Pupils will also learn a variety of ways in which they can communicate their knowledge and understanding of history, both individually and collaboratively.

Implementation

Our project based curriculum ensures that history is promoted across all schools. During our autumn Discover term, pupils experience the history projects listed below, which enable them to explore and develop the historical skills mentioned in the Progression of Skills table. The curriculum includes local, national and world history, with a focus on a range of significant individuals from a range of cultures.  We aim to emphasise the links between different time periods and create a secure chronological understanding through using timelines, time boxes and history reviews. The children study the full national curriculum content, through projects that are sparked by an inquiry question, to encourage exploration and collaborative problem solving, allowing the children to develop and use a range of disciplinary skills.

We approach history through an enquiry based process, using the Hampshire 6 step enquiry approach. This involves hooking children into the learning, before giving them a range of source material to collect information from. Children are then given specially designed tasks to help them process and draw conclusions from this information. Through the use of new information, or P4C enquiries, children are challenged to develop or refine their understanding in a critical way. Children are then given opportunities to communicate their learning in meaningful ways.

Impact

At Forest Edge, our pupils are confident to discuss key features of different time periods and can place them in time. They show a passion and enthusiasm for their learning and are keen to share this with others. Children acquire new knowledge in small steps, and demonstrate that they are making progress with both their substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills. 

Formative assessment is ongoing during lessons and project review times, and misconceptions are addressed by the class teacher. Subject leaders monitor the progress and attainment of children against the progression of skills during the Discover term and identify any areas for future development of the curriculum, CPD for staff or support for particular pupils.