📜 Chronological, Conceptual, Critical 🏰
“The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.”
Theodore Roosevelt
At Courthouse Green, our history curriculum is designed to ignite children’s curiosity about the past. Our history curriculum is designed to develop both children’s substantive knowledge of historical eras whilst also developing the discipline of being a historian. The powerful knowledge and skills that our pupils will acquire will ensure that they have cultural capital and become educated citizens of the world. Our curriculum teaches children both about local history, national events and global events, supporting children to develop their own sense of belonging.
Our History curriculum centres around the themes of Heroes and Heritage in British History and the Wider World. We aim to develop children’s understanding of the past through a chronological, critical, and conceptual approach. Pupils are taught to recount facts from famous events and explore the character, nature and actions of key figures in history.
From Early Years and Key Stage 1, pupils explore significant individuals and events, learning to ask questions, use historical vocabulary and understand how the past is represented. In Key Stage 2, they build secure chronological knowledge, explore cause and consequence and develop the ability to interpret evidence and construct informed responses.
To ensure our pupils receive a high quality history education, three half terms are dedicated to the teaching of History (with other subjects taught in blocks at times). Each year group will learn about a topic in detail and units are in (mostly) chronological order from Years 1-6 to aid knowledge and learning. Our progressive approach adheres to both the National Curriculum as well as reflecting the needs of our children.
Through engaging topics, a strong focus on historical concepts and educational visits, both in and out of school, our children become curious, thoughtful learners who understand how history shapes our world. To aid curiosity, we have developed a curriculum which encourages children to not only question what they have learnt but question how it impacts them and their lives. We use an ‘Enquiry Question’ for each topic to encourage children to want to explore, investigate and discover. We believe by posing questions, this develops their historical enquiry by turning their learning into a process of investigation alongside learning the key facts. We start topics with a ‘wow’ launch to hook the children in and develop their feelings towards their learning. This excites pupils and promotes enthusiasm to learn. Through this, we see children be able to confidently articulate their learning and make links across their understanding of key events throughout History.
We have key historical concepts that run through each unit and are built upon each year. As a school, we have a consistent approach incorporating the key concepts and use visual symbols to aid our children’s learning: