At Barcroft Primary School, we are guided by the National Curriculum for History (2014). 

We teach History in discrete lessons, linked to the topics the children are learning. Our History curriculum and teaching help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and the world. We inspire pupils’ curiosity about the past and encourage them to ask and answer questions in order to know and remember more. We encourage the children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. Through the teaching of History we teach the children to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

History lessons focus on developing historical skills and we motivate the children to act and think like historians. At Barcroft, we provide real life experiences and learn about history in an active and creative way. Links to Geography and other subjects are also explored to make links within their learning. Teachers plan lessons to ensure the learning teaches the children the skills and knowledge they need to answer any questions and learn about the topic fully. 

In Early Years, the children learn History through the subject Understanding the World. The children access History through their play, continous provision and through adult led activities for a range of topics across the year, as well as in weekly circle time discussions.

The National Curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils: 

• 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.

Miss Z Franklin

History Leader

Please click the link below to view our History Policy: