Curriculum Lead: Kim Fenton
Being a Historian
Intent:
At Bridge Learning Campus we are passionate about developing knowledgeable historians who have a secure understanding of chronology and can explain key significant periods and events in British and world history. Our history curriculum has been planned to empower children to understand how Bristol docks acted as a conduit for trade, migration and exploration from Roman times to the present day. Our historians can use their knowledge to interrogate a variety of sources, evidence and artefacts to investigate history for themselves.
Implementation:
History is taught within our enquiry curriculum, often alongside geography and DT, and sometimes science. Where history is the ‘lead subject’ within an enquiry, most lessons within that enquiry will have a history objective. However, the enquiry may also include linked lessons from the other enquiry subjects (geography, DT or Science) to provide context, or to allow children to make links between the knowledge learnt across several subjects. We build our cultural capital through experiences, trips, visitors and story books linked to the areas in history we are learning about. These extensive opportunities allow children to develop a sound understanding of chronology through the support of artefacts and non-fiction books. We begin in EYFS by learning about the near history of our families and then progress to find out about the further past and ancient past as we progress through to Year 6. We develop our understanding and use of the correct vocabulary through our Knowledge Organisers and Vocabulary Sheets.
For example, when the children learn about the history of the Indus valley civilisation, they also learn about the geography of the area, as this helps children to understand why a successful civilisation thrived along the fertile banks of the Indus River.
Likewise, we provide further opportunities to develop children’s historical understanding of history within Science and Design Technology led enquiries. For example, when learning about adaptation in science, the children will learn about the discoveries of Charles Darwin; and when learning about the blood and circulation, they will learn about Edward Lister and the history of vaccination. – Add example from our curriculum after progression doc is completed.
Impact:
We know that we have created successful Historians if children dare to:
- know and understand the history of Bristol and the UK islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day.
- know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies.
- Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses.
- Understand the methods of historical enquiry, and know how evidence is used and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed.
- gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history.
History Knowledge Organisers
- Year 2 – What could my school be made of?
- Year 2 – What did Brunel do for Great Britain?
- Year 3 – How can we find out about people in the past?
- Year 3 – Why did people travel in the past?
- Year 4 – Who has stood here before us?
- Year 5 – How can we show what we belief in?
- Year 5 – Who is trading with whom?
- Year 6 – Who were the greatest engineers?
History Enquiry Displays
