History
Mr Ross is the history coordinator at Milton Park Primary School.
HISTORY Planning Toolkit.pptxHistory at Milton Park Primary School
Aims and Vision
At Milton Park Primary School, we believe that the teaching of history should fire children’s curiosity about the past, develop their understanding about the world in which we live and examine the way in which the past has influenced the present. We aim for our pupils to learn chronologically about significant people, events and developments from both recent and more distant eras.
We aim to inspire our children’s love of history by providing them with a rich and varied curriculum in which history is the ‘hook’ that the rest of the curriculum is based upon. Our children learn through a rich variety of activities and resources including having the opportunity to be “History Detectives”: posing questions, evaluating evidence, applying higher order thinking skills to solve problems. Our children are also given the opportunity to visit places of historical interest to provide them with an enriching curriculum and first hand experiences of history.
How we teach History
History is taught as part of our project lessons and is a topic driver for the school. In KS1 history is taught thematically to have the most impact for younger children. They learn about important people (Florence Nightingale) and events (Great Fire of London) as well as how things have changed over time (Toys over time). In KS2 children learn about history chronologically so that they can use prior understanding to see where periods ‘fit’ in an overall timeline and how life has changed. This starts with the Stone/Iron/Bronze Age in Yr 3 and ends with World War 2 in Year 6. Children are also taught about Ancient Civilisations such as Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and the Mayan Civilisation.
History is taught using a 6-step approach to enquiry in which children explore and find out things for themselves. Children’s learning is enriched through good quality planning and historical sources as well as trips to different places of historical interest. Where possible history learning is linked to our local area.
What will you see in a History lesson?
A good history lesson is child led with the focus on the children exploring, finding out information and making conclusions about historical periods or people for themselves. We do this through good use of historical sources including primary and secondary sources and internet research. The children should be finding out information using their enquiry skills. The best history lessons include the children being immersed in history, being hands on and asking questions about what they are seeing. Children are also shown history from different perspectives so that they can begin to see that time was different for different people and historical events effected people differently.
What does learning look like in a History lesson?
Children are hands on asking and answering their own questions. They use sources to make inferences about the time/ person being studied. They then be using this new information to make comparisons between time periods and are supported to communicatie what they have learnt in different ways.
This can be through many different mediums including writing, role play, artwork, debates and discussions and many more. This can then be recorded on Seesaw or in project books to evidence coverage and progression.
Enrichment -Trips and Special Event Days
