History
History Curriculum Aims
Our history curriculum aims to develop children interest, curiosity, awareness and understanding of the past. As well as learning about significant events and individuals, we aim to develop their understanding of historical concepts, such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference and significance, to support them to compare time periods and explain events.
Children will engage in historical enquiry, using primary and secondary sources of evidence, to understand how we find out about the past, generate questions and create their own account. They will ask their own historically valid questions and answer questions, using sources to explain why they think that.
They will gain an understanding of chronology, sequencing events on a timeline and using vocabulary related to the passing of time.
Pupils will find out about events and changes within living memory, events beyond living memory, the lives of significant individuals in the past and significant events, people and places locally. They will be able to explain the concept of significance, explaining why we remember certain individuals and events. A diverse range of individuals are covered for their contribution and impact on the world.
At Violet Way Academy, our history curriculum is based around 'Understanding the World' in EYFS and the programmes of study in the Key Stage One History National Curriculum. Additionally, we use the scheme Kapow to ensure knowledge, skills and understanding are revisited and built upon effectively to enable coverage and progression across the year groups.
In Reception, children are introduced to history and historical concepts through stories and role play, they discuss their lives and families as well as similarities and differences between their experiences and those of their parents and grandparents.
Learning is reinforced through enrichment trips and opportunities, such as Sudbury Hall Muesum of Childhood and the Thinktank in Birmingham. Links are made to local areas of historical interest, such as the immediate area around the school, Tutbury and Tamworth Castle and the National Memorial Arboretum.
History Lead