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email: admin@sheriffhutton.n-yorks.sch.uk
We shape our history curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive to every child. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for History; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum that encompasses the British Values throughout; ensuring the progressive development of historical concepts, knowledge and skills; and for the children to study life in the past.
Sheriff Hutton lies in an area rich in history, from the castle in the village itself with links to Richard III to the local city of York, one of England’s most historic cities. At Sheriff Hutton Primary School we aim for a high quality history curriculum which should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Our teaching equips pupils with knowledge about the history of Britain and how it has influenced and been influenced by the wider world; know and understand about significant aspects of the history of the wider world like ancient civilisations and empires; changes in living memory and beyond living memory; learn about the lives of significant people of the past; understand the methods of historical enquiry and be able to ask and answer questions. We want children to enjoy and love learning about history by gaining this knowledge and skills, not just through experiences in the classroom, but also with the use of fieldwork and educational visits.
In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in history, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. History is taught as part of a topic approach, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum. We ensure that history has the same importance given to it as the core subjects, as we feel this is important in enabling all children to
gain ‘real-life’ experiences.
In EYFS, children are taught to develop their understanding of the world. They will learn through experiences that introduce the concept of time and change e.g. themselves as a baby. Using observation of pupils’ skills and knowledge, staff plan provision and activities to help pupils progress in their learning. They will be given opportunities to talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society. Throughout the year, when the children show an interest (or are encouraged to have an interest), we will invite local emergency services and local people with specific jobs in to school, we may also go on educational visits in order to fulfil this objective.
Our two year rolling programme in split as follows:
Year A
This year will focus on significant people and encompass some world and local history; this can support historical enquiry irrespective of children joining in Year A or B. This stands alone from Year B so it doesn’t rely on previous knowledge. These units highlight the importance of individuals in history and their influence on our society.
Year B
Our staff feel it is very important that children have a solid understanding of the history of their local environment. This will be linked to ‘events beyond living memory’ which may have had a direct impact on our locality. The children will consider how Britain and our local area has been influenced by these events.
In Key Stage 2 our units of learning support children’s growing knowledge in different contexts, considering local, regional, national and international history.
Year A
This year the learning considers the history of the wider world, helping the children to know and understand significant aspects of historical events on a global scale.
Year B
The concepts and knowledge considered in this year link to impact on our locality, this will be supported by educational visits to local areas where the influence of historical events can be experienced.
We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about history, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.
The impact of our history curriculum is that our learners are equipped with the historical skills and knowledge to give them a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world Their vocabulary, skills and knowledge will develop progressively as they move through the school to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum and will enable them to be fully equipped for the secondary phase of their education. The children will be able to discuss their learning and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding through a range of activities. The children’s learning is assessed against the age-related expectations from the 2014 National Curriculum.
Pupils will develop an awareness of the past of their locality and beyond, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They will know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They will understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented.