1. Vision and Key principles

History at Barnes Primary will help pupils to understand how the past can be divided up into different times, and to recognise and understand that there are similarities, differences and connections between eras. Our curriculum develops pupils’ substantive knowledge: topic knowledge (of events and people), chronological knowledge, and their understanding of golden threads (the larger themes or concepts which thread through our curriculum). Within topics, pupils develop a rich and secure understanding and makes links across historical periods and to what has been learnt before. Our curriculum develops pupils’ disciplinary knowledge: how to historians construct knowledge about the past? Pupils at Barnes explore causation, change and continuity, historical significance and source work, and progression in these concepts is carefully planned from EYFS to Y6. We provide a framework of historical skills for the pupils to draw from which will equip them to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement and ultimately inspire pupils’ passion and curiosity to know more about the past. Artefact handling, problem solving with source material, day trips, themed events and visiting speakers all contribute to make the subject a vivid and stimulating area. Pupils will have the opportunity to learn about the impact that events from the past have had on the modern day and British values are explored throughout.

Key stage 1 Pupils should be taught about:

• changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life
• events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally [for example, the Great Fire of London, the first aeroplane flight or events commemorated through festivals or anniversaries]
• the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods [for example, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, William Caxton and Tim Berners-Lee, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and LS Lowry, Rosa Parks and Emily Davison, Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell]
• significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

Key stage 2 Pupils should be taught about:

• changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
• the Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
• Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
• the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
• a local history study
• a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066
• the achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China
• Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
• a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300.

The overarching concepts or themes of history are our golden threads. These include change and continuity, cause and consequence, civilisation, empire, the movement of people (immigration/ emigration), conflict.

Vocabulary is organised into Tier 2 and Tier 3 words.

Wetlands Centre and Vine Park (YR), Florence Nightingale Museum (Y2), Richmond Park (Y3), Imperial War Museum and HMS Belfast (Y4), Portals from the Past provide workshops on Stone Age & Romans (Y3), Ancient Greece (Y4), Vikings (Y5) and Ancient Maya (Y6).

History at Barnes Primary will help pupils to understand how the past can be divided up into different times, and to recognise and understand that there are similarities, differences and connections between eras. It will develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of events, people and changes in the past within Britain and the wider world; how and why some things change and some remain the same; why events take place and the outcomes that follow. Pupils will have the opportunity to learn about the impact that events from the past have had on the modern day with British values threaded through. We provide a framework of historical skills for the pupils to draw from which will equip them to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement and ultimately inspire pupils’ passion and curiosity to know more about the past. Artefact handling, problem solving with source material, day trips, themed events and visiting speakers all contribute to make the subject a vivid and stimulating area.

How we study History at Barnes

In the Early Years, pupils observe changes in their personal experience, talk about past and present events in their own lives and build up everyday vocabulary related to time.  Pupils also develop their investigative and interpretive skills through exploring primary sources first-hand, analysing text and images, and locating information from images and electronic sources.  They will be developing their knowledge and understanding of the world both independently and in groups.

As pupils progress through the school, starting in Key Sage 1, they look at changes within living memory, as well as studying significant events in the past. They learn about significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Through stories, drama, artefacts, art assemblies and trips, they also focus on comparing their own experiences to significant events and periods further back in history.

By the end of Key Stage 2 pupils will have developed a chronologically secure knowledge of British, local and world history, understanding how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources. Alongside this the children will engage in questions about change and cause and make informed responses.

Our aim for History at Barnes

Through the framework for the 2014 National Curriculum, history taught at Barnes aims to ensure that all children:

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
• 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; achievements and follies of mankind.
• Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract historical terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’.
• 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, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how 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; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Historical enquiry

Historical enquiry is the process of asking questions about the past and finding answers by exploring the sources left behind from the past. It involves children becoming ‘history detectives’ who ask questions and search for answers by sifting through evidence. As their skills develop, children can move to a more rigorous form of enquiry involving the development and testing of hypotheses. Historical enquiries can focus on a significant individual, an event or a change. Meaningful learning occurs when children are challenged to think critically when analysing evidence from the past.

The framework we use for a historical enquiry has a number of stages. Each stage can be revisited at any time during the enquiry:

• Ask questions
• Use evidence
• Suggest initial hypotheses
• Reflect and discuss
• Test hypotheses – use further evidence
• Make judgements
• Conclude and communicate

Here are the principal historical enquiries that different year groups will be exploring to find out more about the past:

History is taught within our learning themes and also during guided reading sessions. The extensive content of the new primary curriculum (implemented from September 2014) led to a decision to teach some of the factual content within guided reading sessions.