History

Intent

At Milverton Primary School and Pre-School we see history as a subject to enhance pupils’ curiosity, appreciation and understanding of the past. We believe that high quality history lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past and to think and act like historians. Our children learn how to evaluate a range of primary and secondary sources of evidence explaining how these sources give us an insight into how people around the world used to live and how these explanations may differ. Pupils will be taught to make links between these areas of learning, with the aim of developing engaged, motivated and curious learners that can reflect on the past and make meaningful links to the present day. We aim to increase the children’s knowledge of their own local history within Milverton; their knowledge of the wider local history of Britain; as well as their knowledge of the world. We will encourage ideas of debate and reflection to ensure our children are equipped with the skills to understand what it means to be historians.

Our History curriculum links to our School Values, We Care, We Aspire, We Belong, by enabling our pupils to empathise with the experiences of others, understand how the actions of the past influence our future decisions and opportunities to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of their place in society and the wider world.

Implementation

Each sequence of learning is built around one or more of the ‘Big Ideas’ of history.
Each lesson is an opportunity to develop a historical skill – which is outlined and addresses the key vocabulary which the children will be exposed to.
We offer hands-on experiences that deepen children’s understanding, such as visiting local areas that have historical importance, for example: The Roman Baths in Year 3.
The children have opportunities to take part in events and workshops that promote historical thinking, for example: A toy workshop in Year 1 and a WW2 workshop in Year 5.
We encourage the children to think critically about different events, places and people in history.
Our children will evaluate and challenge different ideas and views through debates, discussions and the questioning of their past whilst also developing their oracy skills.
We inspire our children to develop a curiosity to learn more about our history.
We embolden our children to develop methods of historical enquiry to understand why evidence is used in different ways and why different arguments are made.
We enable the children to increase their understanding of people in the past, events and contexts through a coherent and chronological sequence.
Opportunities for revision of facts and historical understanding are built into lessons to ensure learning is embedded into the long-term memory.
Observed learning tasks and a range of quizzes enable teachers to check knowledge retention and plan future lessons.