St Matthew's CofE Primary SchoolHistory
History at St Matthew's
School Motto
At St Matthew’s, we shape our history curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive of every child. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for history; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum that encompasses British values throughout; ensuring the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to study life in the past.
Intent
At St Matthew’s, we aim for a high quality history curriculum to inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Our teaching equips pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world; knowledge and understanding of significant aspects of the history of the wider world like ancient civilisations and empires; understanding of changes in living memory and beyond living memory; knowledge of the lives of significant people of the past; and understanding of the methods of historical enquiry and be able to ask and answer questions. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining this knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.
Implementation
In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. History is taught as part of a half-termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. At St Matthew’s, 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; for example, using the local area to look at how buildings have changed in Key Stage 1; comparing the similarities and differences in environments and communities in Lower Key Stage 2; and looking at an in depth study of the locality in Upper Key Stage 2.
Impact
The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children at St Matthew’s are equipped with historical skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.
We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about history, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.