Implementation of History

Implementation 

History in the Early Years 

The curriculum for history in the Early Years bridges the gap between the Early Year Foundation Stage and National Curriculum, supporting our children to transfer to the next stage of learning without incident. Within our Early Years Curriculum there is a very strong focus on the language-rich environment and understanding our children’s own experiences. This includes developing their understanding of the daily routine (such as activities that happen on particular days, e.g. Library day or Forest School); Becoming increasingly aware of the changes in routines during different times of the day; Seasons of the year; That changes in time have an impact on what activities they can do and wear; And what our families celebrate.

It also gives us the opportunity to focus on the past, present and a range of time descriptors (for example two days ago, tomorrow, yesterday, the weekend). At this very basic level of sequencing this allows our children to start their understanding of ‘chronological order and understanding’.

Within the Reception Year we also complete three units of History (as recommended by the Historical Association):

How have I changed since I was a baby?

Why do we wear different clothes during the year?

What are our favourite celebrations each year?

These units support the very foundations of Historical thinking through:

• Beginning to use historical based language – language associated with the passage of time;
• A sense of uniqueness and of belonging to a community;
• Developing a sense of historical enquiry;
• Comparison and contrast, similarity and differences, variety;
• Historical narrative and sequence and a sense of chronology and duration;
• An introduction to handling artefacts and the use of evidence

Key Stage One and Two

Each unit of learning leads with an enquiry question (as recommended by the Historical Association) and each unit sits on the knowledge previously taught. History is taught in weekly lessons for a six-week unit. Retrieval of knowledge is encouraged and planned into each lesson. Children will write in a variety of ways to show historical knowledge and understanding, including reports, diary entries, accounts and reviews.

Staff will receive termly support from the coordinator, through review of children’s books and planning, feedback from regional network meetings, staff training with clear focus on Humanities and other additional information. The coordinator positively encourages professional dialogue between colleagues and across phases.

There are a number of visits planned through the school year to inspire fascination and curiosity in history. This includes famous places (Durham Cathedral) and local sites of interest (The Old Miners Memorial). These visits can be used to start of end of unit of learning, hooking the children in for further study and knowledge. Some units could involve visitors coming into school to bring history to life for every child.

We also have links to the local secondary school and staff have had CPD opportunities from specialist history teachers.

There is a whole school timeline in a central position for all to look at and use. It allows children to see the complexity of time and chronological understanding. We also included local and regional dates, people and events to shine a light on the cultural capital, the best of what has been done or said, on our doorstep.