At St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, History will be fully inclusive of every child.  Our aims are not only to teach the skills and knowledge required to meet the aims of the National Curriculum, but for children to develop a lifelong fascination and passion for History.

Our children will follow an enquiry approach to develop the skills they need not only to ask historical questions but to weigh evidence in order to answer them. 

It is our intent to:

• Develop children’s curiosity and a fascination of the past and encourage them to find out about significant people and events in British and World History so they can understand how the past has shaped the present. 
• Allow the children opportunity to develop the skills necessary to become successful historians such as weighing source evidence and drawing conclusions, understanding chronology, discussing significance, comparing time periods and events looking for similarities and difference, cause and effect and continuity and change.
• Provide opportunities for consolidation, challenge and variety to ensure interest and progress in the subject.

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in History, the key knowledge and skills of each topic have been identified and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group.  History is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum.  Through revisiting and consolidating skills, our curriculum helps children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills and challenge.  At the beginning of each topic, children are able to convey what they know already as well as what they would like to find out.  This informs the planning and ensures that lessons are relevant and take account of children’s different starting points.  Consideration is given to how the wide range of abilities will be catered for within each lesson, as well as how learners will be supported as part of the school’s commitment to inclusion.  All children expand not only their historical knowledge but skills such as understanding significance, interpreting and evaluating historical sources, following lines of historical enquiry and developing a firm understanding of chronology. 

Within History, we strive to create a supportive and collaborative ethos for learning.  The key knowledge and skills of each topic have been identified and consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each phase across the school.  Children will deepen their understanding of key events, civilisations and significant individuals from the past and learn how past events and people have influenced the world they live in today. Children will be able to form lines of historical enquiry based on their interests and will be equipped with the skills they need to research and evaluate historical sources to find the answers they seek.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
• Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
• Images and videos of the children’s learning
• Encouraging the children to demonstrate their knowledge through class assemblies
• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
• Marking of written work in books.