History | St. Augustine's Catholic Primary School

History at St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School

Vision:

We lay the foundations for an for an enquiring and questioning mind.

Intent:

‘We are not the makers of history. We are made of history’

At St Augustine’s we believe that a rich, high-quality and immersive history education will assist our children in developing a coherent knowledge and understanding of the world around them. From Britain to Europe and across the globe, our students are given a thorough understanding of world history and of Britain’s key position in it, whilst developing their own individual sense of identity and cultural heritage.

We want our children to experience exciting and memorable History lessons, so that they can progress in their knowledge and understanding of the subject and leave our school as confident and historically literate young people, with a deeply embedded love of and passion for History, which can be cultivated throughout the rest of their time in education and beyond.

At St Augustine’s, we strive to ensure that our children’s knowledge of the past equips them with the necessary skills to meet the ever evolving challenges of the future and be a part of forging a new, peaceful future for their generation and generations to come.

‘A people without the knowledge of their past, origin and culture are like a tree without roots.’

History Subject Curriculum Overview (1)

Implementation:

The History journey starts in the Early Years Foundation Stage, it is not as a distinct subject, but under the wider umbrella of ‘Understanding The World’.

In EYFS, experiential learning is key, as our children begin their learning journey and work towards achieving the Early Learning Goals. Our children are supported in developing the basic knowledge, themes, historical skills, communication and language and understanding of basic historical vocabulary, such as past and present, similarity and difference, which helps them to make sense of the world around them and lays the key foundations for all future learning in History as they up through our school. Children also explore key dates such as ‘St George’s Day’ and Guy Faulks night and begin to understand where these celebrations originate from.

It is here that our children begin to develop the idea of the concepts of ‘similarity and difference’ and ‘continuity and change’ by linking their learning and knowledge to their own families and local area, two aspects that are familiar to them and provides them with an area of familiarity from which they can draw upon their own experiences . This provides the children with a starting point for history through looking at changes in their own life and the lives of their parents, grandparents and other family members.

All of these important historical skills and concepts introduced in EYFS, will be developed further as they move up in to KS1 and progress through our school.

From Year 1, we follow the CUSP curriculum but adapt it to suit our school. For example, children develop an understanding of their local heritage and its significance through local studies of Middlesbrough, including individuals who lived here (Captain Cook) and how Middlesbrough town was affected by the bombings of World War 2.

The breadth and depth of historical knowledge the pupils are given and the exposure to how life was in the past, aims to motivate the children to develop an inquisitive mind that asks questions such as how life today came about.

We teach children the skills to be a good historian; how to research and gather information from a range of sources, to develop their skills of enquiry and analysis as well as starting to question information gathered and its reliability.

We have chosen the CUSP curriculum as it pays close attention to guidance provided by the National Curriculum sequence and content. It is infused with evidence-led practice and enriched with retrieval studies to ensure long-term retention of foundational knowledge. The foundations of CUSP history are cemented in the EYFS through Understanding the world- past and present and People, Culture and Communities.

Our ambitious interpretation of the National Curriculum places knowledge, vocabulary, working and thinking historically at the heart of our principles, structure and practice. CUSP History precisely follows the units outlined in the National Curriculum.

Through studying History, pupils become ‘a little more expert’ as they progress through the curriculum, accumulating, connecting and making sense of the rich substantive and disciplinary knowledge. This guidance is supported by Ofsted documents and research papers.

We believe that educational experiences linked to historical study enhance and enthuse pupil’s learning . By bringing to life classroom knowledge, educational visits provide an unforgettable experience both in the local area, and as far as London. The local area provides history on the doorstep and studying local heroes such as Captain James Cook, who was born in Marton (an area close to school) bring history to life.

Our history is planned so that pupils know and remember more. Following our Teaching and Learning Model (using retrieval practise, explaining and modelling, checking for understanding and allowing children time to apply their learning) combined with having a vocabulary focus and thinking hard tasks, pupils become ‘more expert’ with each study and grow a broader and more coherent mental timeline.

Historical Knowledge

All knowledge can be sorted into two main groups: substantive and disciplinary.

Substantive knowledge refers to knowledge of the past: people, events, ideas, and so on.

It is the subject knowledge and explicit vocabulary used about the past

Substantive Concepts – Big Ideas in History

Community

Knowledge

Invasion

Civilisation

Power

Democracy

Disciplinary knowledge refers to knowledge of history as a discipline: the methods of historians. This is the use of that knowledge and how children construct understanding through historical claims, arguments and accounts. We call it ‘Working Historically.’

Disciplinary Knowledge – Thinking as a Historian

Chronology

Cause & consequence

Change & continuity

Similarity & difference

Evidence

Significance

Impact:

Children at our school overwhelmingly enjoy history and this results in motivated learners with sound historical understanding. Pupils leave St Augustine’s with an enquiring mind that has developed a chronological knowledge of key historical periods and facts, combined with knowledge of significant individuals who have helped shape society as it is today. The key skills they have developed combined with the knowledge they have acquired will help pupils make more informed life choices and aspire to be open minded citizens who make a valuable contribution to society. We feel St Augustine’s fulfils and goes well beyond the expectations of the National Curriculum as we believe there is no ceiling to what pupils can learn if the architecture and practice is founded in evidence-led principles.

We are proud to be a Heritage School.