History

Values

At Beeston we ensure that teaching results in effective learning for all pupils. We strive to ensure that teachers are skilled at developing our children as historians and consequently children will develop a strong sense of exactly what is history and its value.

Aims

Understanding the Present: History helps students make sense of the world they live in today by providing context for current issues in politics, social justice, science, and more.

Critical Thinking: History education promotes critical thinking skills by analysing historical evidence and arguments, which are transferable across all subjects.

Cultural Awareness: It combats prejudice by highlighting shared human experiences across eras and regions, promoting open-mindedness, empathy, and respect for others.

Self-Development: Studying history builds invaluable critical thinking abilities that equip students to scrutinise information throughout their lives.

Intent

We endeavour to teach History and historical enquiry within a broad and balanced curriculum. Pupils leave Parks with a secure understanding of chronology; both in Britain and the wider world. Through carefully planned, progressive lessons, pupils are taught about the significance of different historical periods, key historical figures and how History has influenced their lives today. Our intention is that children learn both about History and from History adopting a curiosity and awareness of how History has been interpreted by different people at different times. Through the study of historical evidence and through exploring their local area, pupils will develop a deep understanding of the rich History of their locality. Perhaps more poignantly, pupils will leave our school aware of today’s challenges and how they will be viewed historically in later years.

Implementation

Our History curriculum has been constructed around key concepts to ensure that history is taught in a spiral, not linear, manner. We enable children to make connections, revise and recap previous History units taught. Using pictures, photographs, film clips, key vocabulary and historical evidence as a starting point, pupils are encouraged to discuss and reason with curiosity what they are presented with and how this can be interpreted. Having studied historical evidence, pupils are encouraged to react to History and use this knowledge to discuss, present, debate, re-enact and write from different historical perspectives. This embeds and consolidates pupils’ understanding of History and its impact on society.

Impact

History teaching is assessed in a variety of ways. Book looks, analysis of learning journeys and informal learning walks are used by the subject leader to gain an insight of History teaching in practise. In addition to this, the subject leader collects student voice.. Teacher’s monitor the progression of each individual child in their class through the use of the foundation subject assessment documents. These are then monitored regularly by the subject lead to ensure consistency.