Our aim at Signhills Infant Academy is to encourage pupils to develop an appreciation and understanding of the past, evaluating a range of primary and secondary sources. Our historians will also be able to explain clearly how these sources give us an insight about how people around the world used to live and how these interpretations may differ. Pupils will be taught to make links between these areas of learning, with the aim of developing engaged, motivated and curious learners that can reflect on the past and make meaningful links to the present day. Our History curriculum has been designed to cover all of the skills, knowledge and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum. The National Curriculum states that ‘a high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past.’ To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way. Understanding Chronology ; Communicate historically; Historical Enquiry and Interpret Historically (the big ideas) are all mapped out to ensure that pupils build on secure prior knowledge. When covering each of these strands, the content will be carefully organised by each year group through a long term plan. 

Implementation

We have chosen to use the Rising Stars History scheme of work as the basis for our History Curriculum. In each unit of work the key knowledge, skills and vocabulary are identified, which ensures that the children are revisiting the Big Ideas in each unit. A progression framework for History has been developed, which allows us to make accurate assessments as to whether the children are working towards, working at or exceeding expectations. A high quality children’s text is central to our delivery of each historical unit of work. Suggestions for texts to use have been identified in our Curriculum Map for each year group. 

We use a range of pedagogical approaches, which support the teaching of History, information about these approaches can be found on the Historical Association website.

Impact

We measure the impact of our History Curriculum in several ways. Firstly we use the History Progression Framework to measure whether a child is working towards, meeting or exceeding expectations in Knowledge, Skills and Understanding of the Big Ideas. We regularly scrutinise work books to check that these standards are being upheld. We also use retrieval practice to make sure that the children are retaining the important knowledge, resulting in a change in their long term memory. Book trawls, analysis of learning journeys and informal learning walks are used by the subject leader to gain an insight of History teaching in practise. In addition to this, the subject leader conducts informal pupil interviews alongside the child’s learning journey to ensure that learning has been achieved sufficiently and can be recalled when prompted. Through this, it is evident that pupils are excited and curious about History.

	Progression of strands template (2)	[docx 22KB]
	History Long Term Plan	[pptx 372KB]
	Knowledge Organsier Year Two Autumn Bonfire Night and Great Fire of London	[pptx 81KB]
	Knowledge Organsier Year One Autumn My Family History	[pptx 81KB]
	Knowledge Organsier Summer Year Two Local Hereos	[pptx 81KB]
	Knowledge Organsier Summer Year One- Great Inventions Transport	[pptx 84KB]
	Knowledge Organsier Spring Y2 Holidays	[pptx 84KB]
	Knowledge Organsier Spring Greatest Explorers	[pptx 81KB]