History

At Oxclose Primary Academy we feel that History is an important part of a child’s education. Our enquiry-based curriculum focuses on key knowledge and building vocabulary. We believe that all children should have a deep understanding of their local history, as well as learning about history from around the world.

Throughout school, we study important local places and events, from how mining shaped the Washington we have today to the impact World War II had on the North East. We study significant individuals, such as Queen Victoria and Grace Darling as well as important individuals linked to our local area, such as George Stephenson. Children have the opportunity to build an overview of Britain’s past, as well as in the wider world, in order to develop the understanding and skills needed to be a good historian. We aim to make all History lessons fun and enjoyable for all children. By learning a range of topics, children will have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understand chronology, build an overview of Britain’s past as well as that of the wider world, understand the history of our local area, make connections and be able to communicate historically.

History is one of our driver subjects within school and the History Long Term Plan follows the National Curriculum.  The Long Term Plan has been developed to ensure it is bespoke for our pupils and includes local History links. History is taught each term in all year groups. Every class has an hour lesson a week. More time is allocated for History during special enrichment events, such as Armistice Day.

Sticky knowledge is identified for each unit of work, this is the knowledge we want pupils to be able to know, and remember, both during the teaching of the unit and after. Within each class, knowledge mats are used and are available each lesson and are also displayed upon a ‘memory wall’ that children can revisit once they have moved onto their next History topic. Alongside sticky knowledge being displayed, pupils will also be exposed to a History timeline on their walls which they will have created at the start of the year and will add to throughout. Timelines are a collaborative piece of work showcasing past topics from previous years and topics learnt across their specific year group as they add to them, pupils in UKS2 will be required to add accurate dates from historical events and birth/deaths of historical figures. Also, children in KS2 will have timelines within their History books linked to each unit.

There will also be opportunities for pupils to have visits and/or visitors linked to their History Curriculum.

Assessment will take place across lessons, at the end of each unit and across the school year.  Pupils will be expected to be able to recall key sticky knowledge both within the teaching sequence and after the unit has been covered alongside completing a reflection task.  Pupils will complete activities to identify what they now know that they didn’t know previously. Pupils will also complete an ongoing vocabulary record throughout each unit to widen their knowledge and understanding of unit specific vocabulary.

Pupils will be able to confidently discuss, and demonstrate all aspects of the History curriculum that they have been covering and will show appropriate key History skills.  They will have knowledge of significant individuals in History as well as specific historical knowledge identified for each unit covered.  Pupils will be able to retain the knowledge, even after the unit they have been covering.  Key sticky knowledge from across the unit will be retained. 

To enable us to measure the impact, the subject leader and senior leaders will use lesson visits, work scrutiny and pupil voice activities across the year.