History

History Leads: Mrs McConnell and Miss Toll

History Governor: Jon Neal

Our aim is for Heath’s children to understand how historians take evidence from the past to help them to understand the history of our local area, Britain and the wider world. This will be achieved by having a rich knowledge of the past built on a clear understanding of chronology and recognising the narrative across and within periods. Through historical enquiry, the children learn how historians have analysed a range of sources and how they can be interpreted and presented in a number of ways. We want our children to ask questions and to recognise similarities, differences and historical significance between key civilizations and moments in history. This will allow them to form a debate and hold views which enable them to understand not only how people and events have shaped the past, but also how they can help to shape the future, too.

History Progression

• History Progression Map
• History Learning Pathway

History Learning Threads

We have developed our learning threads to create 'journeys of learning' that run throughout the school. The threads center around local and global themes to provide relevance and context to the children's learning and help to weave together content from across the different subjects in the curriculum. The learning builds upon what the children have learnt previously in the school, enabling the children to gain a deeper understanding of the content. 

• Leaders and Democracy
• Settlements
• Farming and Agriculture

Our Approach to History

• Each history unit starts with a chronology lesson. A big picture/zoomed out timeline is used to see where the period fits into history, and in particular previous periods of history studied. A zoomed in timeline is used to highlight key events during the period of study.
• Key concepts run through our history units. These are settlements, farming and agriculture and leaders and democracy.
• The children understand how historians use primary and secondary sources to construct a picture of the past.
• The factors that led to the end/decline of the period are analysed.
• Key questions are used to provide focus and depth to the learning.
• Knowledge organisers, knowledge maps and low stake quizzes are used to help embed the knowledge learned into the long term memory.
  
  

Trips and Visitors

Enriching the curriculum has a positive impact on the children's learning by creating memorable experiences both in the classroom and beyond. It provides the children with the chance to expand their knowledge of the material they've already learned and helps to develop a love of the subject. We endeavour to provide these experiences to children across the school as part of our history curriculum. 

Community Projects

Our Year Six children have visited the residents at the Alice Grange Care Home over the course of the Autumn Term for some 'live history lessons'. The children thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to listen to the residents recall memorable events from their lifetimes.