“History is not the past but a map of the past, drawn from a particular point of view, to be useful to the modern traveller.”
Henry Glassie, US historian (1941)
At St Matthew’s Primary school, our school vision is to encourage all children to flourish spiritually, morally, emotionally, physically and intellectually in all aspects of life demonstrating perseverance and resilience; this is emulated across all curriculum areas.
We provide all pupils with access to a high-quality history curriculum that supports them to develop an appreciation and comprehensive understanding of the past. As historians, our children are given learning opportunities that support a coherent insight and knowledge into how people in Britain and the wider world used to live. Pupils are taught to make connections within these areas of learning, with our aim to develop motivated, independent and curious learners that can reflect on the past and make meaningful links to the present day and how to shape and develop the future.
During history units, lessons will be taught twice a week during the afternoon. To enthuse and excite our children as historians, each unit of work begins with a memorable experience that takes place both in and out of the classroom including workshops and offsite visits, this ignites pupil’s passion to study the topic.
In the Foundation stage, children discuss as a class their own personal history and time-line of their lives so far. They look at how they change from a baby, to a toddler, to starting school. In the summer term, children learn all about dinosaurs and the children go on a trip to Hoo Zoo to really get them enthused!
In Key Stage 1, the children look at topics such as The Gun Powder Plot, Great Fire of London, Toys and Houses and Homes. These are one per term to allow children to really get engrossed in the topics and to allow for lots of cross-curricular links to be made. Where appropriate, children may be taken on an educational visit linked to the topic we have been covering.
In Key Stage 2, the children learn about a variety of different historical periods. They discover how people lived in that specific time era, how that era impacted on us now and differences between now and then. In lessons, IT is frequently used by the children to conduct research and present their findings. When possible, children are taken on educational visits to really immerse themselves in that specific period of time.
 |
  |
 |
 |
| click on image above | click on image above | click on image above | click on image above |
|
Curriculum Intent, Implementation and Impact Statements |
History Topic Overview |
Progression of Knowledge and Skills |
Pictorial Summary (School Development Planning) |
Assessment:
As a school, we encourage children to “know more and remember more”. To help the children succeed with this, we complete regular quizzes of previous years’ historical topics. This allows children to revisit their learning and further embed it.
Should you wish to support your child, this website has lots of history quizzes to aid your child’s understanding:
https://www.educationquizzes.com/
Further learning
We all want our history to be fun and full of laughs. Here is a link to some Horrible History videos for your children to laugh along to and learn some fun facts:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00sp0l8/horrible-histories
Trip to Blists Hill
Humph's History Workshops.
