History
History at Sandiway Primary School
Together, we take our children on a journey that is engaging, exciting and empowering for all.
At Sandiway Primary School we aim to:
Engage: develop children’s knowledge and understanding of historically significant people, places and events from the past, empowering them to become knowledgeable citizens of the future.
Excite: provide interesting, interactive and enquiry based lessons which ignite curiosity in the past; encouraging pupils to develop a positive attitude towards the subject.
Empower: ensure pupils experience a progressive curriculum that equips them with historical knowledge, enquiry skills and a rich vocabulary needed to develop a good historical understanding.
What does our curriculum look like for history?
Our broad and balanced history curriculum ignites children’s curiosities in the subject. Historically, our children have struggled to understand and separate subjects within a thematic approach so we have moved toward a subject specific approach to teaching history.
We use the EYFS and National Curriculum guidance as well as the Rising Stars scheme of work as the foundations for our history curriculum. From here, we aim to create a bespoke curriculum for the children at Sandiway Primary School to ensure that all pupils recieve a progressive curriculum appropriate to their requirements.
How is the Curriculum at Sandiway Primary School Structured?
Each year group is taught three history units of work within an academic year. Over-arching enquiry based questions are set at the beginning of each unit of work giving learning a hook. Six further questions are then used to break down the knowledge and skills required to enable our children to answer the over-arching question by the end of the unit of work.
Knowledge and skills are built upon within and between each history unit to ensure children’s learning becomes more secure in the long term. Within each year group, the skills built upon are: chronological understanding, similarities and differences, cause and effect, changes over time and investigating and interpreting sources. The knowledge focuses on: people, places and events during the history of our world.
Vocabulary development is pivotal in the history curriculum at Sandiway Primary School, and all pupils are exposed to and challenged to use at least some ambitious, subject specific vocabulary, reflecting the high expectations set for them.
Within our history curriculum, we promote a love of reading. This may be through materials shared within the lesson or access to further materials to deepen the children’s understanding of what they have been learning about in class.
How do we provide for all learners?
Our curriculum is equitable and appropriate for all groups ensuring full access and parity for all pupils. We provide a mastery approach to the history curriculum and wherever possible, children access Quality First Teaching. Where further support or challenge is required, reasonable adjustments are made to meet individual needs, particularly for those with SEND or vulnerable individuals.
How do we enrich the curriculum?
Out of class learning experiences are offered where possible to enrich the learning experiences of all of our learners. Throughout their time at Sandiway, we aim for our children to experience a variety of history-based visits and/or visitors, some of which are in their immediate locality and others are further afield. Where appropriate, our residential visits from Y2 up to and including Y6 are linked to our history curriculum in order to bring the curriculum to life and provide deeper, more meaningful learning opportunities for the children.
How do we assess the curriculum?
Teachers use formative assessment throughout a history unit of work and where possible use the main enquiry question as a summative assessment at the end of a unit of work. Such assessments are used to plan next steps of learning for pupils to ensure that they are prepared for the next phase of their education.
What is the Impact of the curriculum?
As a result of our carefully planned, progressive curriculum, by the end of their time at Sandiway, our children will have a sound understanding of the chronology of our world, the people and events before us and how they have influenced and changed our lives in the present.
Web page: Autumn Term 2022
If you would like more information about the school's curriculum, please contact the school's history lead (Mrs Hannah Croft) hdunn@sandiway.cheshire.sch.uk