History

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History at Perryfields Infant School

Intent

·   To encourage children to develop an awareness, respect and curiosity for different cultures and societies in the past. 

·   To develop historical skills and vocabulary. 

·   To encourage children to ask questions and identify similarities and differences between past and present. 

·   To encourage all children to be independent and evaluative thinkers who have empathy for how others lived in the past. 

The subject leader, in consultation with staff, has been responsible for plotting the skills to be covered into 3 blocks of learning for each of Year 1 and Year 2. The order in which the blocks should usually be taught is specified and the content has been agreed to ensure that it is progressive and not repeated.

The blocks each year are:

·       History within living memory/ in the recent past

·       History beyond living memory

·       A famous person from history and the time when they lived

 

EYFS

History is taught in the Understanding the World area of learning. Most of this area of the curriculum is taught through sharing both fiction and non-fiction books, watching video clips and class discussions.

The order of skills & knowledge

The children’s interests and the class topic decide the order in which some specific lessons are taught, while others are dependent on the time in the year. The history curriculum is devised from the yearly overview which is taken from the Development Matters document.

How and when we assess

Children are assessed formatively through observations, and photographs. They are also assessed every term against the 7 areas of learning and this data is uploaded onto the Early Years Data Spreadsheet.

By the end of the year we expect children to have met the Past and Present Early Learning Goal for Understanding the World. We expect the children

  • To talk about the lives of people around them and their roles in society.
  • To know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now.
  • To understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.

Key Stage 1

History is taught termly in the first half term (with geography taught in the second half). There will also be opportunities to explore significant key calendar events outside this time e.g. Remembrance Day, Guy Fawkes, coronations.  The lessons are taught weekly and previous learning is built upon through the year.

The order of skills & knowledge

There are 3 history blocks of learning for each year, which have been devised from the national curriculum. The periods from history and famous people to be studied are taken from a range agreed for each year group.

These include (but are not limited to):

For Year 1

  • Homes or toys
  • Great Fire and Great Plague or Norman Conquest
  • Jesse Owens, Henry VIII, Mary Anning, Edward Jenner

For Year 2

  • Space or Antarctic exploration
  • Titanic disaster
  • Marconi, Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin

How and when we assess

Children are assessed termly using a Proof of Progress (POP) task. The information is saved in a Teams folder where it can be tracked by the History Lead.

 

By the end of  Year 1 we expect children to have the following:

KNOWLEDGE

Specific vocabulary associated with history (listed in our history blocks)

Some different sources can be used to find out about the past.

Know how a timeline is organised (longest ago on the left).

Key facts and dates of the events being studied.

Understand that there may be different versions of the same event.

Know some reasons why people acted in the past as they did.

Know what life was like at a given time.

Know why a significant person is remembered.

Key events of a famous person’s life.

SKILLS

Use common words and phrases to talk about the passage of time.

Ask questions and describe events, based on the sources used.

Order events and artefacts in a timeline.

Recall key facts and dates.

Sequence facts and dates in order.

Explain that there may be different sources that tell us about events in the past.

Make suggestions about why people did things and how they felt.

Identify similarities and differences between past and present.

Recount key events from a person’s life.

Talk, draw and write about a famous person.

 

By the end of Year 2 we expect children to have the following:

KNOWLEDGE

Understand more complex vocabulary about the passage of time.

Know how to read and write dates and tell which is earlier.

Key events of the period studied.

Key dates of the period studied.

Facts about the time in which the individual lived.

Know why the individual was significant.

SKILLS

Describe similarities and differences and changes locally and nationally in ways of life at different times.

Use common words and phrases relating to the passage of time.

Place events or articles on a timeline, using dates.

Use historical vocabulary relating to the period in question.

Describe historical events studied.

Identify different ways in which the past can be learned about.

Compare different people from the past.

Explain why a person from the past was significant.

Recount key events from the person’s life, using dates.

 

Children who are not meeting age related expectations are supported by additional adult support and resources such as word banks and time lines during lessons.

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