History Curriculum at XII Apostles
Mission Statement
To place Christ at the centre of everything we do.
To recognise that each child is unique and to ensure that each child is educated to fulfil their human potential.
To develop an understanding of community; being able to recognise, respect and celebrate the diversity of all within it.
Our school’s Mission Statement provides us with values, beliefs and relationships and is the basis for everything we do, underpinning the purpose of all our work in Twelve Apostles.
History
Subject Leader: Mrs Parry
Intent
The national curriculum outlines the following aims for History in schools:
- Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world.
- Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
- Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
- Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
However, our History curriculum further intends to celebrate and recognise that each child is unique and encourage them to reach their full potential as Historians. Also, at Twelve Apostles, our aim is for children to develop a sound understanding of their local and national heritage and to provide children with the opportunity to investigate the past through a wide range of experiences. We are committed to developing children’s curiosity about local, national and international history by broadening their knowledge of people, events and places in the past. We aim for our children to appreciate, experience and engage with all aspects of History and to develop the skills within History to enable them to access a world of possibilities that History can offer them both now and later in their lives.
Our curriculum is driven through the following historical concepts (similarities and differences; significance; continuity and change; movement of people; cause and effect; concurrence) which are explored in a wide breadth of topics. Our curriculum is arranged so that pupils return to these same concepts repeatedly, gradually building an understanding of them. Our Long-term plan details how pupils will be given opportunities to relate topics to previously studied topics to build schemata and deepen understanding so that the children know more, remember more and can do more.
Implementation
Our History curriculum builds substantive, disciplinary and chronological knowledge and enables children to develop connections between them
Substantive knowledge covers facts, concepts, events, people and historical vocabulary. Substantive knowledge provides the foundation pupils need to build their understanding of the past
Building on this firm foundation, disciplinary knowledge is introduced progressively throughout the school. This strand of learning encourages pupils to think and behave like historians-developing the skill of asking historical questions, interpreting sources, understanding cause and effect and making historical arguments.
Chronological knowledge refers to children’s understanding of time, sequence, and the order of historical events and how periods of history relate to each other.
Units of lessons are sequenced to allow children to build their knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. The formal elements, a key part of the National Curriculum, are also woven throughout units. Knowledge is built upon year by year, ensuring that children revisit key concepts with increasing complexity in a spiral curriculum model . This progression helps to carefully develop children’s schemata enabling them to make connections, remember more, and apply what they know in new and creative ways.
History teaching focuses on enabling children to think as historians. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s substantive, disciplinary and chronological knowledge in history. We believe that children learn best when:
- They have access to, and are able to handle artefacts.
- They go on visits to sites of historical significance and places of interest.
- They have access to secondary sources such as books and photographs.
- They can talk to visitors/family members about their personal experience of the past.
- They listen to and interact with stories from the past.
- They are shown, or use independently, resources from the internet and videos.
- They are able to use non-fiction books for research.
- They are provided with opportunities to work independently or collaboratively, to ask as well as answer historical questions.
They are given time to reflect on their own learning by giving them opportunities to create visual prompts enabling them to recall how they learned about this period, thus creating opportunities to identify links and relate periods of history together.
In addition to the National Curriculum, each year group studies an element of local History. Our curriculum reflects the rich history that our local area holds. Children are encouraged to consider the role they play and how they can make positive contributions to the local community. Trips and visitors are organised so that the children can develop a deeper understanding as to how our local area has changed.
At the core of our approach is the belief that every child has their own unique story to tell. We want all children to feel proud of their ideas and recognise the importance of understanding history through different perspectives. By exploring the past in engaging and meaningful ways, we aim for children to leave our school with a strong appreciation of history, the confidence to ask questions and share their thoughts, and the understanding that the skills they develop in studying history can open doors to many future opportunities—whether in research, teaching, or professions like archaeology, museum work, and storytelling.
Impact
At XII Apostles, we recognise the unique needs of each child and support them in reaching their human potential. We have a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing their collaborative and independent skills, as well as empathy and the need to recognise the achievement of others. The impact of our History curriculum is measured in the experiences, confidence and competence of our children within the subject. We ensure children receive the experiences they require, both within and beyond the curriculum, to develop their skills and knowledge and become confident historians. By revisiting historical concepts, children will deepen their understanding and be able to identify links and be able to relate periods of history together. Progress in History throughout Twelve apostles is outstanding. Children typically enter school at below the expected level on the ELG ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World, but the average percentage of children for the past 3 years achieving Secure or above, at the end of Year 6 is 90%.
The children are organising pictures from the present-day, within their living memory and beyond their living memory.
The children enjoyed visiting a museum to further develop their historical understanding, knowledge and skills.
The children enjoyed visiting a museum to further develop their historical understanding, knowledge and skills.