Intent:

At Wrestlingworth and Dunton Federation we intend for children to develop an understanding of the past and how it has shaped the way we live today. We deliver a high-quality history education that will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Implementation:

Our curriculum has been designed to be both knowledge-rich and coherently sequenced. Knowledge of concepts has been interleaved across the curriculum, allowing children to encounter and apply these in different contexts. From year to year, unit to unit, lesson to lesson, the curriculum supports children in making connections and building upon prior knowledge. For example, the children develop a secure understanding of ‘monarchy’ in Britain. They are introduced to the concept of the monarchy in Year 1 which is built on in Year 2; starting with learning about significant figures and learning what makes a figure significant in the ‘Movers and Shakers’ unit, then moving onto looking at the British Monarchy more deeply in the ‘Magnificent Monarchs’ unit. This is then revisited again in a later context as children learn about the changes to the British Monarchy during the Anglo-Saxon period (in the ‘Invasions’ unit) and are able to compare their knowledge back to what they know of more modern British Monarchs.

Our history curriculum is balanced to enable children to look in some depth at local, national and world history, encouraging children to explore the connection between significant events and people and how they have influenced the modern world. The content in the curriculum ensures children have a secure overview of a period, before studying aspects in more depth. 

The curriculum aims to help children understand how the past is constructed and contested. Children begin by learning about what a historian does, looking at basic sources and simplified perspectives to develop an appreciation and understanding of what it means to be a historian. As their substantive knowledge grows, children will be able to ask perceptive questions, analyse more complex sources and begin to use their knowledge to develop perspective. Disciplinary concepts, such as continuity and change, cause and consequence and similarity, difference and significance, are explored, and children are supported to think outside of their current unit of work and apply these concepts across the curriculum.

Impact:

The curriculum aims to ignite children’s love for history, preparing them with essential knowledge for Key Stage 3 and beyond. All history is worth studying, but as we do not have the time to cover everything, the units have been carefully chosen to cover as wide ranging content as possible without compromising depth. From ancient civilisations and prehistoric Britain to the Second World War and the abolition of the slave trade; looking at law and power across the ages; understanding invasion and migration, exploitation and political movements for freedom and equality. The curriculum aims to introduce the children to a wide variety of men, women and children from the past; from the widely venerated, to the lives of the less well-known who offer us a rich insight into life at the time- from Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King, from Emmeline Pankhurst to Joseph Lister.