Intent

At Valley Road Academy, History teaching focuses on educating children to think as historians. An emphasis is placed on examining historical artefacts and a range of historical sources. Where appropriate, children are given the opportunity to visit sites of historical significance. We encourage visitors to come into the school and talk about their experiences of events in the past. We recognise and value the importance of stories in history teaching and we regard this as an important way of stimulating interest in the past. We focus on helping children understand that historical events can be interpreted in different ways and that they are encouraged to ask questions.

We believe that, through the study of history, children make sense of their world and enrich their understanding of it. Through our curriculum, children will understand the similarities and differences between societies and cultures, and the impact of change on people and place.

Implementation

The planning of each unit is underpinned by the key historical concepts of: Chronology, Cause and Consequence, Change and Continuity, Similarity and Difference and Historical Significance. Units are carefully sequenced allowing pupils to draw on prior knowledge, as this plays and important role in how pupils learn.  High quality lesson planning and systematic teaching approaches strive to bring about lasting changes in pupils’ capabilities and understanding.  Regular purposeful practice of what has previously been taught helps to consolidate material and help pupils remember what they have learned. Pupils have repeated opportunities to revisit ideas allowing them to retrieve information from memory and strengthen their recall. Scaffolding, guides and a software system to support communication, are used highly effectively to support all pupils, to realise their full potential. 

Impact

At Valley Road, pupils gain a firm foundation of knowledge and skills to see them equipped to take on further learning in secondary school. Pupil’s skills and knowledge are assessed ongoingly by the class teacher, throughout lessons.

Children of all abilities will be able to succeed in all History lessons because work will be appropriately adapted and scaffolded.

Each term the History  coordinator alongside the leadership team, will undertake a variety of monitoring activities to measure the impact of our curriculum. 

In our school we measure impact in the following ways:

• Work books show clear evidence that our children have shown progress and attainment in line with the National Curriculum
• Children demonstrate enthusiasm for the subject and can talk with confidence about history
• Children demonstrate an understanding of a range of historical vocabulary which can be applied confidently
• As historians, our children can use their skills to pose questions, evaluate evidence and draw conclusions
• Children can make links and connections to what they have been taught previously.
• Children are keen, enthusiastic and motivated to discover and learn about people and events from the past.