History

"How do you know who you are unless you know where you have come from? How can you tell what’s going to happen, unless you know what’s happened before? History isn’t just about the past. It’s about why we are who we are and about what is next?” (Tony Robinson-Historian)

Intent

At Manor Park Primary Academy, the aim of the History curriculum is to allow our children to develop an interest in the past and an appreciation of human achievements and aspirations. This will help them to understand how people and events from the past have impacted on our world today and to respect the values of different societies. Our intention is to improve every pupils' cultural and historical understanding of the world around them, including their own heritage. 

At Manor Park, every child engages in quality History education from their entry into Nursery until the end of KS2 in Year 6.  History is taught through the vehicle of Cornerstones Curriculum 22 Driver Projects which are adapted to meet the needs of all of our pupils. 

Planning ensures coverage of carefully sequenced subject knowledge, skills and understanding, as set out in the National Curriculum History Programmes of Study. We aim to provide an interesting and varied curriculum that interests and intrigues our children while meeting the needs of all backgrounds, cultures and abilities. Local history and heritage are an integral part of our children’s learning as it allows them to look at what was happening in their local area and then move from local to national, then finally global events. The curriculum supports children to develop a knowledge of chronology and to compare different times and places. It also encourages enquiry and questioning, skills that support learning across the curriculum.

In EYFS, History is taught under the ‘Understanding of the World’ area within the EYFS Framework, with a specific focus on the physical world and their communities.

Implementation

The Cornerstones 22 Curriculum maintains strong links to the National Curriculum to ensure all aspects, knowledge and skills of History are being taught across the academy and foundation knowledge is built upon from the EYFS Framework. Teachers are creative and practical in their approach to teaching, working inline with then school's teaching & learning strategy, with the ability to support children in retaining and recalling knowledge through various methods such as low stakes quizzing and use of knowledge organisers.We use assessment for learning within all lessons to ensure that teaching and learning is relevant, teases out and addresses misconceptions which help to plan for next steps.

At Manor Park, we have an electronic History knowledge and skills progression map available, outlining clear sequencing of knowledge, skills and vocabulary from EYFS to Year 6. Please contact the school directly for further information. 

Please click here to see an example of the progression across one aspect of History learning.

It is essential to excite and intrigue children to find out more about events and people from the past, therefore we make use of historical artefacts, visitors, workshops and visits. We aim to give our children as much understanding as possible about what it was like to be around at a particular period in history by having practical and experiential lessons where possible.

Please find our History Curriculum Map below. 

Impact

Through the high quality teaching of History taking place, we will see the impact of the subject in different ways.

Through pupil voice, children are able to talk enthusiastically about the skills and knowledge they have acquired. They are highly engaged in their learning and motivated to find out more. Children will complete research independently through projects and home learning and to further their own enjoyment about their History Learning Project. 

Books show that a range of History Projects are being covered, links within the connected curriculum are made where meaningful and engaging learning set as appropriate. The school environment will be history rich through displays in classrooms and around the school, books and resources available. 

Through development of disciplinary knowledge, children will learn to evaluate events from the past to influence the decisions they make in their lives in the future. 

The Maestro assessment tool allows staff to regularly monitor the progress of pupils and provide evidence for robust monitoring of our curriculum. 

History Enrichment

Through History, the children at Manor Park have the opportunity to participate in an extensive range of workshops, trips and themed days to enhance their learning within class and to develop their cultural capital. 

Across the school, themed days and months are celebrated to ensure that children are aware of key dates and celebrations that will be of significance within their lifetime. For example; The Jubilee, The King’s Coronation, Remembrance Sunday and Black History Month. During these celebrations, children learn all about the History and traditions through a variety of engaging activities and assemblies. Children also have the opportunity in EYFS up to year 6 to display their own History topic learning to parents through an ‘express and share’ assembly each year.

Trips and workshops are also fed in through every year group to ensure the History topics are memorable for children and knowledge they acquire remains in their long term memory. In EYFS, History trips and workshops revolve around their broader topic of ‘Understanding the World’, whereas in KS1 and KS2, trips and workshops come under the disciplinary subject of History. Some examples of workshops are; Roman day in year 3, an explorer talk and workshop in year 2 and 6 and a Greek workshop in year 5. We ensure that children are also taken outside of the school for experiences with examples of trips being; year 1 visiting the Farnham museum and year 4 and 6 visiting the British Museum. 

Manor Park prides itself on the huge range of opportunities children are offered across the curriculum, including History. The wide range of opportunities in History ensures all children leave primary school with an extensive knowledge of events within and beyond living memory.