History at Co-op Academy Medlock

 

‘A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.’ 

Marcus Garvey

Intent

History  is an integral part of the broad and balanced curriculum provided for all pupils at Co-op Academy Medlock. We believe that all children should be able to be curious about the past and use this curiosity to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world and their place within it. 

All children have opportunities to develop their knowledge in history through a carefully structured and progressive curriculum which enables pupils  to understand British History and how society has developed and changed. We also want our children to have a wider understanding of the world and how past civilisations have had an impact on their lives today. Our curriculum closely follows guidance from the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (EYFS) and the National Curriculum Programmes of Study. 

We also believe that it is important we recognise the diversity of our school community and that this diversity is present in our history curriculum. This enables pupils to learn about people from around the world and in different time periods but also allows our pupils and community to see themselves in what they learn. History provides opportunities for children to see, experience and understand how the past impacts upon the world we live now and their role in shaping its future as the next generation of global citizens. 

Implementation 

History is taught by class teachers, of which the delivery is supported by the subject lead.

In Early Years, pupils are supported to develop an understanding of the past across the whole curriculum. 

This is supported each half term, by an Understanding the World ‘topic’ which helps children to make sense of their physical world and their community. These broad topics have a National Curriculum driver with a particular emphasis on developing subject specific knowledge and skills in preparation for the National Curriculum.  Teaching  includes guided, adult led and child initiated opportunities.  

The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of our community now and in the past. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across the curriculum. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary is seen as particularly crucial in order to prepare them for the key stage 1 curriculum and beyond. 

The environment is structured at each stage (including provocations) to provide children with opportunities to develop, explore and investigate these new skills freely with adults carefully skilled at intervening and moving learning forward. 

In years 1-6, the curriculum builds on our foundational learning in the Early Years. Following progressive and carefully written medium term planning developed by the subject leader. These have been structured  so that pupils revisit and further develop their understanding; constantly building on the learning that has come before. This includes disciplinary knowledge of how the children can interpret and understand a range of historical sources as well as significant people, events and places.  Further to this, they support and enhance the learning in other curriculum areas, where appropriate, in particular humanities and give pupils opportunities to transfer and apply their knowledge from other curriculum areas. 

Each unit of work is designed to enable the pupils to build on learning that has come before. It is built on questions with an emphasis on core concepts that are revisited as the children move through school enabling them to make links within and across the time periods they encounter. These concepts are Chronology, Conflict and Invasion, Borders and Geography, Leadership and Rule, Legacy and Daily Life. In units of work such as Ancient Greece and the Victorians pupils will examine the impact that those time periods had on those that followed. In units such as the Romans, Anglo Saxons, World War II and The Vikings they will examine the way geography impacted on the success of a civilisation and the way that this in turn may or may not have changed land use and the way that countries were ruled. Pupils will re-encounter significant periods they have studied in year 6 when they study Crime and Punishment. Allowing them to make connections within and across a range of historical time periods. 

Every unit is planned to follow a specific cycle to support the acquisition and development of substantive and disciplinary knowledge which are taken from our progression documents.  Each lesson is planned according to the pedagogy outlined in our ‘Teaching and Learning Principles’. Both of these have been implemented based upon current educational research. 

Critical thinking is a key aspect of the history curriculum. This is done in a variety of ways including throughout and at the end of a lesson where the children have to justify their opinions based upon the knowledge they have acquired.  This might also be done informally through discussion. 

Reading  and vocabulary development is of utmost importance at Co-op Academy Medlock and as such this is reflected in the way that history is taught, with pupils being explicitly taught vocabulary they will need to access the core knowledge at the start of each lesson.  Pupils also have opportunities to read a range of texts in lessons and across other curriculum areas such as English, reading and history. These texts include quality poems and non-fiction texts to support their understanding across the curriculum. 

Due to our location near the city centre we are fortunate to have a number of Museums and Galleries on our doorstep. We actively encourage pupils to visit local Museums and  galleries such as, Manchester Museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery with their families and children have the opportunities to visit these galleries regularly throughout their time at Co-op Academy Medlock.

Impact 

Teachers and the subject lead triangulate information from a variety of sources to make  judgements about what the children have learnt at the end of each topic. In Key stage 1 exit tickets are used to assess the core knowledge at the end of each lesson. In Key stage 2 Summative google quizzes are completed and essays are used to support these. Significant gaps are recorded by the teacher and this is then shared with the subject leader. These gaps are then used to inform future homework. The subject leader then uses this to inform future actions to ensure that pupils continue to make good progress in history. 

As history is a driver for many other curriculum areas this gives a greater purpose to the learning that takes place. The knowledge and skills they develop within these sessions are transferable to other areas of the curriculum including art, geography, science and maths. 

Pupils positively engage with history, make good progress and produce work of a high standard.