History
From Year 1 onwards, all class teachers explicitly teach the foundation subjects using a blocked, knowledge-based approach.
Our learning sequences for History have been carefully planned, ensuring children are building on prior learning and that Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary appropriate to the study is taught explicitly. Planning starts with the knowledge, the ‘what’, the concepts and how we learn about a subject, incorporates vocabulary including etymology of words and then worked examples leading to independent tasks.
Planning is delivered through:
- Spaced practice
- Retrieval practice
- Interleaving
- Elaboration
Throughout each planning sequence, quiz questions are explored with the children cumulatively across each individual lesson. These are used as a learning tool which activate memory, rather than an assessment tool.
Within each lesson, children are also given the opportunity to ‘Show what you know’; this allows them to retrieve key knowledge they can recall from the lesson which they then reflect on at the start of each new session.
Knowledge notes are used to provide clarity to all children which incorporate key vocabulary, information and images to support learning. Regular practice ensures that the knowledge becomes ‘sticky’ and also encourages productivity.
To end each topic study, children can show what they have learnt through our double-page spreads. These are completed independently and children can choose how to present their findings and knowledge recall.
Reception
Children begin to learn about and develop a sense of chronology within their own lives, as well as learning about the past and present through daily activities. They explore through change, and find out about people from the past using books and external visitors.
Year 1 and 2
Children will learn about changes within living memory. They will find out how things change over time, as well as changes in aspects of national life. They will also study the lives of significant individuals who have contributed to national and international achievements. This includes Mary Anning, David Attenborough, Neil Armstrong, Tim Peake, Mae Jemison and Bernard Harris Jr.
In Year 2, children learn about events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally, finding out about the Great Fire of London. They also consider significant events, people and places in our locality.
Year 3
Children will learn about changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. This helps pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world. They will also study the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain.
Year 4
Children will learn about Britain's settlement by Anglo-Saxons and the Scots, with a focus on chronology, causation and relationships. They will also study the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor. They will study the achievements of the earliest civilisations - Ancient Egpyt.
Year 5
Children will learn about Ancient Greece, studying Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world. They will also study the Ancient Maya, a non-European society that provides contrast with British history.
Year 6
Children will learn about how conflict changed our area during World War II. This will focus on the change in people, culture and landscape across the East of England during the war. They will also study 5 significant monarchs that extends their chronological knowledge beyond 1066. They will study the Windrush Generation and the Battle of Britain to further extend their knowledge beyond 1066.