History

Our History Curriculum - What are we aiming for? 

At St. Edward’s Catholic Primary School, we provide a high-quality history education which inspires children to want to know more about the past and to think and act as historians. We foster our pupil’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world, whilst fulfilling the aims of the National Curriculum. We achieve this by using the Kapow Primary History scheme of work and incorporating the local area links our school location provides. 

Kapow Primary’s History scheme of work aims to inspire pupils to be curious and creative thinkers who develop a complex knowledge of local and national history and the history of the wider world. We want pupils to develop the confidence to think critically, ask questions, and be able to explain and analyse historical evidence. 

Through our scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of significant events and individuals in global, British and local history and recognise how things have changed over time. History will support children to appreciate the complexity of people’s lives, the diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups. Studying History allows children to appreciate the many reasons why people may behave in the way they do, supporting children to develop empathy for others while providing an opportunity to learn from mankind’s past mistakes. Kapow Primary's History scheme aims to support pupils in building their understanding of chronology in each year group, making connections over periods of time and developing a chronologically-secure knowledge of History. We develop pupils’ understanding of how historians study the past and construct accounts and the skills to carry out their own historical enquiries. 

In order to prepare pupils for their future learning in History, our scheme aims to introduce them to key substantive concepts including power, invasion, settlement and migration, empire, civilisation, religion, trade, achievements of humankind, society and culture. 

Kapow Primary’s History scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of Key stage attainment targets in the National curriculum and the aims also align with those set out in the National curriculum.

In Reception pupils are taught to: 

• Comment on images of familiar situations in the past.
• Compare and contrast characters from stories, including figures from the past.

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 civilisations 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

Our History curriculum, based on the Kapow scheme, emphasises the importance of historical knowledge being shaped by disciplinary approaches, as shown in the diagram above. These strands are interwoven through all our History units to create engaging and enriching learning experiences which allow the children to investigate history as historians do.

Each six-lesson unit has a focus on chronology to allow children to explore the place in time of the period they are studying and make comparisons in other parts of the world. Children will develop their awareness of the past in Key stage 1 and will know where people and events fit chronologically. This will support children in building a ‘mental timeline’ they can refer to throughout their learning in Key stage 2 and identifying connections, contrasts and trends over time.

The Kapow Primary timeline supports children in developing this chronological awareness. Units are organised around an enquiry-based question and children are encouraged to follow the enquiry cycle (Question, Investigate, Interpret, Evaluate and conclude, Communicate) when answering historical questions.

Over the course of the scheme, children develop their understanding of the following key disciplinary concepts: 

• Change and continuity. 

• Cause and consequence.

• Similarities and differences.

• Historical significance.

• Historical interpretations. 

• Sources of evidence.

These concepts will be encountered in different contexts during the study of local, British and world history. Accordingly, children will have varied opportunities to learn how historians use these skills to analyse the past and make judgements. They will confidently develop and use their own historical skill set. As children progress through the Kapow scheme, they will create their own historical enquiries to study using sources and the skills they have developed. 

Substantive concepts such as power, trade, invasion and settlement, are introduced in Key stage 1, clearly identified in Lower key stage 2 and revisited in Upper key stage 2 allowing knowledge of these key concepts to grow. These concepts are returned to in different contexts, meaning that pupils begin to develop an understanding of these abstract themes which are crucial to their future learning in History. 

What will success in history look like? 

The expected impact of following the Kapow History scheme of work is that children will: 

• Know and understand the history of Britain, how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.

• Develop an understanding of the history of the wider world, including ancient civilisations, empires, non-European societies and the achievements of mankind. 

• Develop a historically-grounded understanding of substantive concepts - power, invasion, settlement and migration, civilisation, religion, trade, achievements of mankind and society.

• Form historical arguments based on cause and effect, consequence, continuity and change, similarity and differences. 

• Have an appreciation for significant individuals, inventions and events that impact our world both in history and from the present day. 

• Understand how historians learn about the past and construct accounts. 

• Ask historically-valid questions through an enquiry-based approach to learning to create structured accounts. 

• Explain how and why interpretations of the past have been constructed using evidence. 

• Make connections between historical concepts and timescales. 

• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for History.

• Understand how their local area has been shaped and influenced by history.

Progression of Knowledge and Skills

The History Progression of skills and knowledge gives an overview of the skills and knowledge covered in each phase and strand and how these skills are developed in order to enable pupils to reach the end of key stage outcomes outlined in the National curriculum. Topic knowledge is covered in each of our units, helping pupils to understand the period being studied, however this knowledge is not necessarily progressive and the need to memorise this knowledge may not extend beyond the topic in question. It has not been included in these documents for this reason.