History

'History is who we are and why we are the way we are.'   (David McCullough)

History

Our school values in history:

We show love by investigating and learning about the past and how it has shaped the world that we live in today.

We show courage by challenging our own thinking as well as the actions of others in the past.

We show unity by working in groups to research and found answers to our own questions.

We show inspiration by encouraging others to reflect and learn from the past in order to be active global citizens.  

Our curriculum

At Bishop Aldhelm’s our curriculum aims to foster children’s love of history. Children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding about Britain’s past and that of the wider world whilst noticing patterns and changes over time. Our aim is to stimulate children’s curiosity so that they ask and answer questions and develop their critically thinking. Our teaching of history helps children understanding why things are the way that they are and to challenge points of view. Our curriculum is structured to give them the tools that they need to succeed in the future through learning how to solve problems, how to research in detail and how to use evidence to support their point. Through the teaching of history, we aim to teach pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, including those of the present, the process of change and the diversity of societies and beliefs whilst celebrating these differences.  

Key concepts:

Children re-encounter the following concepts in their history learning throughout the school:

*invasion and conflict           *settlement        *trade         *monarchy        *empire             *beliefs          *democracy      *poverty and wealth       *invention and technology

By coming across these every year in history, children are able to secure their knowledge of these concepts in a number of different contexts. Knowledge on the Knowledge Organisers are also split into these concepts. Each year, children also explore one of these in depth so that by the end of their time at Bishop Aldhelm’s, they have a strong understanding of each of the concepts. The underlined concepts in the Long Term Plan are those that are studied in depth across the year.

Importance to Bishop Aldhelm’s children and local links:

Our local area is full of history. Throughout their time at Bishop Aldhelm’s, children will learn about where we can see the impact of history in our local area such as the RNLI (from the Grace Darling topic in Year 1), to how the local area was bombed during WW2. Where possible, topics are linked with the local area, visitors or with the experiences that the children have whilst at Bishop Aldhelm’s.

We want children leaving Bishop Aldhelm’s to be able to:

• Review historical information noticing patterns in behaviours and changes over time
• Know how the past has impacted on our lives today
• Understand connections between local, regional and national history
• Understand history as a chronological narrative
• Know how to solve problems by researching in detail and using evidence to support their arguments.
• Be curious by knowing how to ask and answer questions