Emley First School

The intent of our history curriculum at Emley First School is to instil a love of History in our children and inspire pupils’ curiosity and fascination. We give our children the knowledge and understanding of the past and its events to enable them to have a greater insight into the world and the community in which we live and their own heritage.

We equip pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world; know and understand about significant aspects of the history of the wider world like ancient civilisations and empires; changes in living memory and beyond living memory; learn about the lives of significant people of the past; understand the methods of historical enquiry and be able to ask and answer questions.

We teach the National Curriculum through a carefully constructed curriculum that provides a wide range of learning  using a cross-curricular approach where appropriate, supported by a clear skills and knowledge progression. 

History teaching focuses on enabling children to think critically and provide excellent opportunities to enhance learning through investigations, analysing sources and writing extending pieces.

Teaching will be scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. 

Staff will model explicitly and the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

A variety of teaching approaches are used on the teacher's judgement. 

Where appropriate we use historical artefacts, visitors, workshops and visits to excite and intrigue our children to find out more about events and people from the past. 

Learning will also take place through commemorative events. 

Children leave Emley First School with:

• A secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods covered. 
• The ability to think critically about history and communicate confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
• The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others' views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence from a range of sources.
• The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, forming and refining questions and lines of enquiry.
• A sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret and the past in different ways.
• A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgements.
• An understanding of how significant historical events, people and places within their local area having been affected and changed due to events in the past.