History at Langley Mill Academy

 “A people without a knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” Marcus Garvey.

Intent

At Langley Mill Academy me want our children to learn about elements of British and world history that have impacted on how we live our lives today.  We do this by teaching through three themes that are revisited in each year group.  We teach the National Curriculum through these three themes, with history being a key element of our Values and Changes themes.  

Key Knowledge Progression for our History Curriculum 

Implementation

Our history curriculum, based on the National Curriculum, is grouped together over a period of weeks during our wider curriculum time.  Links are made to other curriculum areas, including English.  Each term has a Knowledge Organiser that includes ten key 'sticky knowledge' questions that we want our children to answer. These can include questions on historical dates, key places, people and knowledge about the time period as well as historical enquiry skills, where appropriate.

The lessons are planned using smartboards and include revisits with links to past learning within the time period being studied and within the larger theme. Our subject pedagogy requires pupils to think like historians and includes:

• Chronological understanding.
• Historical research & enquiry: use of primary and secondary sources.
• Experimental archaeology.
• Historical analysis.

 Over the four years pupils develop their understanding in each theme, for example, in our Values theme they learn about the historical implications of our British Values such as democracy and rule of law and how history has shaped these. In our Changes theme they learn about what it means to live in Langley Mill – how the local area and county area have changed over the years and what impact the local area has had on British and world history.

We have designed our curriculum to include wider themes such as Black History, that can be driven by our English Curriculum. For example following Year 6's study of the Battle of Britain, pupils will learn and read about the Windrush Generation in Benjamin Zephaniah's 'Windrush Child' and Year 5 pupils will learn about Respect in the Walter Tull Story.

'Themed Reading' is carefully planned to secure knowledge and deepen learning around history topics, as well as pre-teach key vocabulary before it is encountered in history lessons. 

Children show their understanding of the history they learn in a variety of ways and written outcomes are recorded in their curriculum books.  

 Impact

By the end of their primary education at Langley Mill Academy, our learners will have gained a rich body of historical knowledge and a wide range of historical enquiry skills, which they can apply to a range of contexts.    We also aspire for children to leave Langley Mill Academy being able to understand, debate and discuss elements of British and world history which have shaped the world we live in.    

The impact of the curriculum will be judged by how well the pupils can remember, understand and apply the core knowledge they have learned.  Teachers can use a range of assessment tools to monitor pupil progress, for example: Starter recall quizzes, assessment for learning, structured discussion activities, independent work completely, challenge tasks, end-of-topic multiple choice quizzes, and pupil voice.

Subject leaders will monitor progress through learning walks, book looks, evidence of work and pupil discussions. Teachers will also receive feedback on the impact they are having through observation and book looks and provide an opportunity to share good practice with one another.

Our History Lead is Miss G Deo