History

Intent

At St Oswald's we are Historians. We have designed a curriculum where our children explore local, national and world history through a wide range of topics, trips and rich experiences. We teach chronology, events, people and changes as well as communication, enquiry and interpretation skills. We aim to make all children aware of the actions of important people in history and enable children to know about significant events in British history, whilst appreciating how things have changed over time. Our topics cover British history from the Stone Age Britain through to World War 2 and are designed to help our children develop a sense of identity and a cultural understanding based on their historical heritage.

Our pupils develop their History skills, in line with the national curriculum programme of study for History . The foundation for these skills is the Early Years Framework which provides the building blocks for all future learning in History.

Implementation

History is taught termly at St Oswald's with topics being blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth. With resources from The Historical association and Key Stage History, we teach our History skiils within a rich context with historical and chronological knowledge being revisited at every opportunity. You can see a range of our lesson progressions here.

We believe history is best learned through rich contexts and experiences. In KS1 and EYFS our children use a variety of activities to bring history to life. We also provide rich historical contexts for pupils to explore chronology, historical enquiry and communicate their findings through a range of media. In Year 4 the children visit a Roman exhibition at Lancaster City Museum where they meet a Roman soldier and learn all about Roman life and in Year 6, we explore the events of World War 2 including an evacuee experience. We are also part of the Lancashire Museum loans service, where artefacts and replicas are loaned to the school for the children to use as part of their lessons and see 'real life' examples of the historical themes discussed.

Impact

The impact of this curriculum will lead to outstanding progress over time across key stages relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Children will leave St Oswald's as confident and skilled historians ready for the Key Stage 3 History curriculum. Our History curriculum will also lead pupils to be enthusiastic history learners, evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice and their work.