History

Our History Curriculum

 At St Edward’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that high-quality history lessons inspire children to want to know more about the past and to think and act as historians. By linking learning to a range of topics, children have opportunities to investigate and interpret the past, understand chronology, build an overview of Britain’s past as well as that of the wider world, and to be able to communicate historically.

We develop children with the following essential characteristics to help them become historians:

· An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods, including significant events in Britain’s past;

· The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas confidently to a range of audiences;

· The ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using historical evidence from a range of sources;

· The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past by formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry;

· A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make critical use of it to support their learning;

· A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics;

· A developing sense of curiosity about the past and how and why people interpret the past in different ways.

Mr and Mrs Avery paid Year 4 a visit today to talk about living in Bournville in the 1930-60’s; Mr Avery’s time in World War II and working at the Cadbury Factory! The children enjoyed listening to their amazing stories and asked lots of relevant questions. We would like to say thank you again to Tony and Rosemary for sharing your stories with Year 4 today.

Black History Month 

UK Black History Month is October. It is the 34th Black History Month in the United Kingdom – the first being celebrated in 1987. In school the children will be celebrating the contributions of Black Britons to society, art and culture. They will also studying the lives of internationally historically significant black figures.

For BHM, the Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, are running various competitions to promote their Black British Arts & Culture collection. The collection is made up of non-fiction about black Britons and fiction by black Britons. The competitions are as follows - 

Black History Month Junior Writing Competition @ the Children’s Library at Library of Birmingham ) (For writers aged 12 and under)

Borrow a book from our Black British Arts & Culture collection. Write a review of at least 50 Words. Hand the finished review to a member of staff in the Children’s library by 5 pm on Saturday November 30th. You will need to be a library member to enter the competition. 

Black History Month Trail at the Children’s and Music Libraries at Library of Birmingham

Enter a prize draw for a chance to win a Book Token. Find 10 pictures of black Britons hidden around the Children’s and Music Library. To enter the draw you will need to pair up the Britons you found and be a library member.  

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Year 5 Ancient Greece 

In Year 5, the children have been learning about life in Ancient Greece and their achievements. They have also begun learning about influence the Ancient Greeks have had on the western world through their contributions to philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, sports, literature and theatre. The children's history learning has also been linked to their English work on Greek myths and geography work on modern Greece. 

Year 6 World War Two 

In Year 6 the children have been learning about the the cause of World War 2 (WW2) and the impact it had on Britain and also other European countries. The children have been learning about the Blitz, rationing and also the evacuations that occurred in Britain during this time period. Their history work has been supported by cross curricular links to English as the children have been reading 'Goodnight Mr Tom' as a class text and also music as the children have listened to songs from that period of time, in particular songs by Vera Lynn. 

History 2019-2020

At St Edward’s we believe that, through the study of history, children make sense of their world and enrich their understanding of it. We aim for the children to develop a curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. We teach children to understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today, what past societies were like, how these societies were organised and what beliefs and cultures influenced people’s actions.

Through this curriculum, children will understand the similarities and differences between societies and cultures, and the impact of changes on people and place. We aim to give children a greater awareness of their belonging in St Edward’s community, Britain and the world.

In key stage 1 pupils are taught about:

• Changes within living memory and changes in national life.
• Events beyond living memory that are nationally or globally significant.
• The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements.
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

In key stage 2 pupils are taught about: 

• Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
• The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain
• Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots
• The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor
• A local history study
• A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066 
• The achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
• A non-European society that provides contrasts with British history –  Mayan civilization c. AD 900