History Curriculum

Intent

Historical study at New Wave will be based on five connected concepts: The role of evidence; Evaluating interpretations of History; Assessing significance; Change and continuity; and Questioning cause and consequences.

Pupils will be taught that historical study itself has changed. History is not merely a series of uncontested facts and events but a matter of debate with many standpoints to explore. Pupils will understand and appreciate that curiosity and critical thinking are essential tools for historians.

Skilfully framing questions, delving deeper through historical enquiry and looking at different perspectives are important skills pupils will be taught across the key stages. Pupils will develop a sound knowledge of chronology, of historical periods and knowledge of local, national and international events.

Understanding the past and constantly evaluating it helps pupils to become knowledgeable future citizens. It is our intention to foster a love of History as an academic discipline with huge relevance to the modern world and its future development.

Implementation

History skills are embedded within all history lessons and developed throughout their journey of the history curriculum. By the end of their primary education pupils at New Wave will:

• Have a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day.
• Be able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives.
• Be knowledgeable about world history such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Mayans.

We have a project based approach to learning with an emphasis on the people and communities in our local area. Pupils learn through enquiry based learning opportunities to gain a greater understanding of our local area. Teachers plan and create engaging and informative teaching and learning opportunities which take into account prior learning, plan for opportunities for assessment and identify suitable next steps.

Impact

We use a variety of strategies to evaluate the knowledge, skills and understanding that our children have gained in each half-termly unit:

• CPD to ensure that teacher pedagogy and assessment is secure.
• regular feedback marking and pupil voice feedback.
• subject monitoring, including book looks.
• regular low stakes knowledge assessments, using a range of creative approaches.
• Cross-federation moderation to ensure secure teacher judgements.

Enrichment

To further develop cultural capital, History at New Wave offers pupils a wide range of experiences outside of the classroom environment. These opportunities are designed to develop pupils’ learning and their cultural understanding of the world around them.

We make the most of our local history, for example, by visiting The Geffrye Museum and Sutton House, but also the world-class museums that London offers – the Science, British and Natural History museums. In addition, we visit local nursing homes so that children have the opportunity to interview people from older generations.