‘We Are Historians’ at Witham Oaks Academy 

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world following objectives from the National Curriculum 2014. History inspires curiosity about the past of Britain and the wider world. It encourages questioning, critical thinking, the weighing of evidence, perception and judgement. Empathy is key in order to consider the past and the actions of its people.

Intent

In History, we aim to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the past in order to have a better understanding of the society in which they live.  History teaching at Witham Oaks  Academy has a wide application to everyday life, teaching the children to enjoy learning about the past and to have a better understanding of the society in which they live. A culture of learning from each other is promoted through use of co-operative learning structures so that the children learn to respond appropriately and supportively to each other regardless of gender, age, cultural or ethnic background.

We encourage pupils to develop an appreciation and understanding of the past, through evaluating a range of primary and secondary sources. We want our historians to be able to explain clearly how these sources give us an insight into how people around the world used to live and how these interpretations 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, develop empathy for how people lived and make meaningful comparisons with the modern world.

The aims of teaching history in our school are:

• To inspire pupils’ curiosity to discover more about the past and to develop an understanding that enables them to enjoy all that history has to offer.
• To enable children to know about significant events in British history and to appreciate how things have changed over time.
• To develop a sense of chronology
• To know and understand how the British system of democratic government has developed and, in so doing, to contribute to a child’s citizenship education.
• To understand how Britain is part of a wider European culture and to study some aspects of European history.
• To have some knowledge and understanding of historical development in the wider world.
• To help children understand society and their place in it, so that they develop a sense of their cultural heritage.
• To develop in children the skills of enquiry and the ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry
• To develop children’s ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical evidence from a range of sources.

Implementation

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. History is taught through knowledge-rich projects as part of our Cornerstones curriculum, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At Witham Oaks Academy, we ensure that history has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to gain ‘real-life’ experiences. It was also important to us that children hone their history skills through a combination of directed teaching, independent study, group debate and co-creation.   

Curriculum connectivity is a crucial aspect of our curriculum design, so we’ve ensured that history subject aspects are linked and developed throughout the projects, and build in complexity over time. The history projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s historical knowledge, skills and subject disciplines. Key aspects and concepts, such as chronology, cause and effect, similarity and difference, significance and hierarchy, are revisited throughout all projects and are developed over time. All projects also develop historical skills based on evidence and historical enquiry.

The overview below illustrates how this is done.

The projects make links across themes and topics, building children’s contextual knowledge across year groups. For example, in KS2, children study how hierarchy and power develop and change from the earliest times in Britain and the wider world, through to the world wars of the 20th century in Year 6.

The choice of historical periods follows the guidance set out in the national curriculum, with specific details relating to significant events and individuals chosen to present a rich and diverse account of British and world history. Where there are opportunities for making meaningful connections with other projects, history projects are sequenced accordingly. For example, the project Dynamic Dynasties is taught alongside the art and design project Taotie to give children a better all-round understanding of ancient Chinese arts and culture.

All history projects are taught in the autumn and summer terms, with opportunities to revisit historical concepts in some of the spring term geography projects.

The Cornerstones skills and knowledge framework is built around 10 Big Ideas. These are global themes and concepts that lend coherence to the curriculum, such as humankind, change and significance. Within these big ideas, key historical concepts have been identified, including hierarchy and power, civilisation, changes over time, chronology and significance, and have ensured that they are explicitly taught and developed through our history curriculum at  Witham Oaks Academy.

Other substantive concepts, including empire, invasion, war, democracy, parliament, resistance and enslavement, are also sequenced and revisited over time.

To lessen the cognitive load on pupils, lessons at Witham Oaks Academy introduce new facts and concepts in manageable ways. New content builds upon prior learning, and the teaching narrative encourages the recapping and retrieval of essential facts.

Exploring historical sources. It’s important that our children learn how to explore and use historical sources. Throughout our history curriculum,  children study primary and secondary sources of evidence, discover how pieces of evidence create a picture of the past, and, in upper Key Stage 2, identify and explore the viewpoint of the authors of written sources. 

Building vocabulary. We know how important is to teach children correct subject vocabulary. Rather than a one–off approach, consistent use of historical vocabulary has been built across the curriculum projects, due to their connected themes. For instance, children become familiar with terms, such as monarchy, government, power, democracy and hierarchy, that help them to articulate their developing historical knowledge. 

Impact

We will know that our history education has been successful in our school when the children leave curious about the world around them; When they generate questions to help them investigate the past and evaluate their life today, because they have a good understanding of local and national and world history.

• Children will understand History concepts outlined above.
• Children will understand and use the key skills of chronological understanding, Knowledge and understanding of events in the past, Historical interpretation, Historical enquiry and organisation and communication.
• Most children will achieve age related expectations in History. 
• As Historians children will learn lessons from history to influence the decisions they make in their lives in the future.
• Children will know about history in their local area.
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• Children will know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• The pupil voice will represent an understanding of what history is and how they have applied this learning in a given context as part of a highlight task.
• Children will work collaboratively to investigate the past and explain the processes that they have taken
• Children will be able to apply their knowledge in a secondary setting.

History Overview