History
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At St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School, we want every child to develop a fascination with the past and an understanding of how it has shaped the world in which we live.
Our history curriculum enables children to explore significant people, events, places and periods from the past. Through carefully sequenced learning, pupils develop secure historical knowledge while learning how historians investigate evidence, ask questions and reach conclusions about the past.
We want our children to leave St Vincent’s with a strong sense of chronology, a rich historical vocabulary and the confidence to think critically about the past.
Building a Strong Historical Knowledge
Our history curriculum is carefully planned from the Early Years through to Year 6. Learning is sequenced chronologically where appropriate, enabling children to develop an increasingly secure understanding of when events happened and how different periods connect.
Children learn about:
• changes within and across periods of British history
• significant civilisations and societies from around the world
• important historical figures and their achievements
• significant events and developments
• the history of our local area
• how people lived in different periods
• how societies, technology and ideas have changed over time.
Key knowledge is revisited regularly so that children remember important information and can make meaningful connections between different periods of history.
Developing Historical Thinking
History is more than learning dates and facts. We want children to think like historians.
Pupils learn to:
• ask thoughtful questions about the past
• develop a chronological understanding
• identify similarities and differences
• recognise change and continuity
• explore cause and consequence
• understand historical significance
• use evidence to investigate the past
• recognise that historical accounts can differ
• form and communicate their own conclusions.
As children progress through the school, they become increasingly confident in using evidence to support their ideas and explaining their thinking using appropriate historical vocabulary.
Learning from Evidence
Children encounter a range of historical sources and artefacts to help them understand the past.
They may explore photographs, documents, maps, objects, buildings, artwork, oral histories and archaeological evidence. They learn that sources provide clues about the past and that historians must consider what different sources can tell us.
Through careful questioning and discussion, pupils learn to distinguish between evidence, interpretation and opinion.
Local History and Our Community
We believe that history is most meaningful when children can make connections with the world around them.
Our curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to explore the history of our local area and community. They investigate how the places around them have changed and develop an understanding of the people and events that have shaped their local environment.
Educational visits, local landmarks, historical buildings and community links help bring the past to life and enable children to become historians of their own locality.
Understanding the Wider World
Our history curriculum extends beyond Britain, giving pupils opportunities to explore significant civilisations and societies from across the world.
Through studying different cultures and historical experiences, children develop a broader understanding of humanity and recognise that societies have developed in different ways.
This helps pupils appreciate diversity, challenge assumptions and develop respect for different people, cultures and traditions.
History and Our Catholic Identity
Our Catholic faith provides an important dimension to our understanding of history.
Children explore aspects of the history of Christianity and the Catholic Church and encounter individuals whose faith influenced their lives and the communities around them.
Through historical learning, pupils consider how people have responded to challenges, injustice and change and how individuals can make a difference to others.
Vocabulary and Communication
We place a strong emphasis on developing historical vocabulary.
Children are taught the language they need to describe periods of history, explain historical processes and communicate their ideas accurately.
Through discussion, reading and writing, pupils develop their ability to construct historical explanations and communicate their understanding clearly.
History also provides rich opportunities for children to develop their reading and writing skills through historical texts, research and extended writing.
Supporting Every Historian
We have high expectations for every pupil and believe that all children can succeed in history.
Teachers use adaptive teaching to ensure that pupils can access ambitious historical learning. Children who need additional support receive appropriate scaffolding, vocabulary and resources, while those ready for greater challenge are encouraged to make connections, evaluate evidence and develop more sophisticated historical interpretations.
We are committed to ensuring that disadvantaged pupils, vulnerable pupils and pupils with SEND have the support they need to participate fully and achieve well.
Inspiring a Lifelong Interest in History
We want our children to understand that history is not simply about what happened in the past. It helps us understand who we are, where we have come from and why the world around us looks the way it does.
Through engaging lessons, historical enquiry, educational visits, artefacts, local studies and high quality texts, we aim to inspire curiosity and a lifelong interest in the past.
By the time children leave St Vincent’s, we want them to have secure historical knowledge, a strong chronological understanding and the ability to investigate evidence, ask questions and think critically.
Above all, we want our pupils to understand that every generation has a role to play in shaping the future. Through learning about the past, children develop the knowledge, perspective and confidence to make a positive difference in the world and to let their light shine.
At St Vincent’s we aspire to make the learning ambitious for all learners. Our school curriculum includes the knowledge, skills and life experiences children need to thrive. Our learning is carefully planned and sequenced using the National Curriculum that can be found below:
Knowledge and skills are built on from previous years and there is clear progression in each subject. You can see an overview of progression below:
Each curriculum area is taught across the year and evidenced on a long term plan, divided into half termly blocks. You can see the long term plan below:
