History

Our History Vision

“A generation which ignores History has no past – and no future.” –
ROBERT A HEINLEIN

At Holy Trinity Church School, we want History to fire children’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world and help them to understand the diversity of human experience. History is important as it provides children with the opportunities to empathise with others, argue a point of view and reach their own conclusions - essential skills that are prized in adult life. Therefore, we aim for a high-quality history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge of British, local and world history. Curriculum content is knowledge and vocabulary rich, in a sequenced chronological order, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract concepts as they move through school.

By exploring History through our school vision, we hope to give all children the desire to explore our History and ask questions as to why things happened the way they did.

Key Documents

History Policy 2022

History Knowledge Skills and Vocabulary Progression Grid

Implementation:

At Holy Trinity, we use the Uplift Approach to help embed our History knowledge and ensure that it is in our long-term memory. Please see the Uplift Policy to understand this principle in more detail.

At the start of each History unit, we do a prior learning lesson to recap what we have learnt previously in History. By recapping our prior knowledge we embed it within our long-term memory.

We focus on helping children understand that historical events can be interpreted in different ways and that they should always ask searching questions, such as ‘How do we know?’, about information they are given. Learning objectives show progression in how pupils’ thinking and responses develop from simple assertions using description to explanation and analysis.

In Key Stage 2, there are different focus areas which link with a previous/future history unit. When looking at a History time period, we ensure we teach what this era is like but we will then look deeper in a specific area. Below are the areas of focus and where they link with a previous/future History unit:

Religion:

Year 4: Ancient Egypt - Mummification and the afterlife.

Year 5: Ancient Greeks- Gods and Goddesses and how they worship.

Food:

Year 3: Stone Age – Hunting and gathering and comparison with the Iron Age of Farming.

Year 6: The Mayans – Reliance on corn.

Invasions:

Year 3: Romans – Caesar’s Invasion

Year 4: Settlers and Invaders (The Saxons and The Vikings) – The raid of Lindisfarne.

Leadership:

Year 5: The Victorians - Dr Thomas Barnardo (Barnardos) and Queen Victoria as a leader of a great Empire.

Year 6: World War II – Comparison of Churchill and Hitler.

Impact

We hope by focusing on prior learning each unit, this will embed the children’s long-term memory. The focus areas within the Key Stage 2 curriculum help the children to compare similarities and differences between different time periods.

History in Action:

Year 1: The Great Fire of London Exhibitions