History

At Broadgreen, we are committed to providing all children with learning opportunities to engage in history. We believe history fires the children’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world and plays an essential part in preparing us for living and working in the contemporary place. At Broadgreen, pupils consider how the past influences the present, what past societies were like, how these societies organised their politics, and what beliefs and cultures influenced people’s actions. As they do this, children develop a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people. They see the diversity of human experience, and understand more about themselves as individuals and members of society. What they learn can influence their decisions about personal choices, attitudes and values. In history, children find evidence, weigh it up and reach their own conclusions. To do this they need to be able to research, sift through evidence, and argue for their point of view – skills that are prized in adult life.

As a school, our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in history and we use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our history lessons in order to achieve this. We believe in whole-class teaching methods and combine these with enquiry-based research activities from EYFS up to Year six.

We believe children learn best when:

• They have access to, and are able to, handle artefacts.
• They go on visits to museums and places of interest.
• They have access to secondary sources such as books and photographs.
• Visitors talk about personal experiences of the past.
• They listen to and interact with stories from the past.
• They undertake fieldwork by interviewing family and older friends about changes in their own and other people’s lives.
• They use drama and dance to act out historical events.
• They are shown, or use independently, resources from the internet and videos.
• They are able to use non-fiction books for research.
• They are provided with opportunities to work independently or collaboratively, to ask as well as answer historical questions.

History is planned in accordance with the National Curriculum.

The History curriculum is divided into two main areas: Being a historian (skills) and Historical content (knowledge).

Key Stage 1 pupils are taught about:

- changes within living memory

- events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally

- the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements (some are used to compare aspects of life in different periods)

- significant historical events, people and places in our own locality.

Key Stage 2 pupils are taught about:

- changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age

- the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain

- Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots

- the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor

- a local history study

- a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 - we teach the children about both World Wars

- the achievements of the earliest civilizations - Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt

Historical knowledge, skills and understanding are taught through high-quality, discrete lessons, which are planned to build on and develop prior learning. We take advantage of our local area to complete local history studies. Our immediate area is rich with opportunities to learn about Victorian Britain

History Long Term Plan KS1&2.docx

Holocaust Memorial Day - Broadgreen bringing 'Light in the Darkness'