‘History should be an enquiry waiting to happen...’
A Brumby 2019
Intent
At Mevagissey, History forms an integral part of the curriculum. We believe that our History curriculum inspires children’s curiosity, enables them to engage with challenging themes through using the past to inform their opinions and encourages them to ask critical questions. It teaches children to respect and value diversity by showing respect for different viewpoints and ideas as well as the ability to work effectively together in groups.
At Mevagissey we are fortunate to be able to utilise our beautiful and historic village and surrounding areas for field trips and visits. Children have the opportunity to visit historical village and ports, explore the history of Mevagissey through our Museum project during our Local History studies, visit our local museums and National Trust properties such as Cotehele and Lanhydrock to augment and enrich our curriculum.
Implementation
History is deeply embedded in our curriculum and in the most part, children will develop their skills in history through the study of thematic units that relate to significant historical events or individuals who changed the course of history. Within our classrooms, we follow rich, exciting, and ambitious lines of enquiry by answering big questions such as What did a child's life look like in the war? We have selected and designed our units carefully so that our curriculum includes diverse narratives and voices focusing on specific historical figures. Through historical enquiry, we encourage the children to ask questions, select and evaluate evidence and to make judgments about the past. This is a vital way of showing them that there is often more than one side to a story and that history is multi-perspective. Children will continue to build on their skills and knowledge in line with Mevagissey’s History Skills progression document ensuring the children can gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’ or ‘legacy’. The children learning is supported by our knowledge organisers which support the children historical enquiry.
Our ‘History Curriculum Rolling programme’ is carefully planned so that by the end of year 6, all pupils will have gained a chronological understanding of British, local and world history from the Stone Age to modern day. Being a mixed formed year group school, where our year group mixes can change each year, we have carefully planned our units so that each child has the same chorological journey throughout the school regardless on which cohort they are in as they move through their key stage. The children are provided with opportunities to support their skills progression, such as historian visits and educational trips to museums.
Children will communicate their learning by collecting evidence in their topic books, Seesaw and through displays, assemblies, photographs, and presentations. The children work toward an end composite that uses the knowledge they have learnt in the unit to create.
In EYFS, history is embedded throughout the year using real life experience and books. Ensuring the Early Learning Goals relating to history in the EYFS statutory framework is covered.
Impact
Our history curriculum makes a profound and positive impact on the outcomes of every pupil at Mevagissey. Our children are happy and engaged learners who can make effective decisions, make links across areas of learning, and be respectful of the views of others. They experience a wide range of learning challenges and are given opportunities explore and ask questions. Visits from historians and future history focused learning visits will enrich the lives of the children and they will be able to discuss how the experience impacted their knowledge and understanding.
At Mevagissey, the children can speak enthusiastically about their learning and are eager to find out more about the past.
The impact of history within our curriculum is monitored through:
- Ongoing teacher assessment, marking and verbal feedback throughout lessons. Deeper thinking tasks and big think questions will allow teachers to extend the student’s understanding further.
- Book Looks to check the impact of teaching is shown in the responses that the children give.
- Pupil conferencing – students can talk confidently about their learning journey within history, they demonstrate a clear understanding of historical terms and understand methods of historical enquiry.
- Teachers provide children with an opportunity to recap prior knowledge each lesson.
- Plenaries are used effectively to ensure previous topics are revisited and for targeted questioning.
- Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
- Self and peer-assessment opportunities.