History

At St Barnabas, we want our children to gain a coherent understanding that History is the study of the past, specifically, the people, societies, events and problems of the past.  Furthermore, we want our children to understand Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Our language-rich curriculum is designed to inspire children’s curiosity to know more about the past and cross-cultural understanding. Children should ask perceptive questions and think critically, using varied sources of information and artefacts. They will learn about how people’s lives have changed and what it means to be human, how diverse societies were and the challenges that were faced.

Chronology

Our children develop their chronological awareness of the past in order that they can order the periods in history that they study. 

Primary & Secondary sources

During their time with us pupils visit historical buildings and museums. They handle artefacts, read documents and study photographs from the different time periods they study.  

Responding to the past

Children are encouraged to ask perceptive questions and think critical about events and periods of history. They respond to historical periods in writing, pictures and songs as well as reenacting key events. 

History overview for website.pdf

Implementation

Our History and Geography curriculum is based on different principles including retrieval of previously learned content and also the interleaving of units. Our curriculum uses key substantive knowledge concepts as threads that run through our curriculum model to ensure that our children develop a deeper understanding of these historical concepts. These are revisited in our ‘knowledge rich’ units of work as we recognise that if we attempt to teach historical and geographical topics, places, themes and issues in their entirety we restrict opportunities for pupils to retain knowledge and master critical thinking skills 


Knowledge schemas 

A knowledge schema is created at the start of each unit, which is then made available for children to use at any point in their lessons. This is a way to support memory retention, building knowledge and vocabulary through retrieval practise strategies which are planned in to every lesson. The knowledge schemas have been designed into strands that link the key History concepts to the current unit content, therefore building abstract mental structures (schema) and showing the links to other units of study to support easier retrieval of information in the future. The essential knowledge that we as a school have chosen to develop as a priority for our children can be found on the medium term plans. Alongside the development of dual coded knowledge schemas and retrieval practice strategies, we ensure that our curriculum provides opportunities to build upon and revisit previous learning.


Impact

Children in the St Barnabas Multi Academy Trust will know and remember more as they progress through the History and Geography curriculum. We recognise that learning is a change to long term memory and that it is difficult to see the impact in the short term. We do, however, use knowledge schemas, retrieval practice strategies and formative assessment throughout the unit to assess children’s understanding and inform future planning. The end of unit tasks, which involve using the knowledge schemas, are designed as a way for pupils to demonstrate the essential knowledge, vocabulary and skills that have been gathered throughout a unit of work to answer the unit learning question.