History

Through discovery and challenge, our history curriculum will captivate and excite children. It will provide them with a secure knowledge and understanding of the past as well as the opportunity to consider the impact that events, actions and people have had on their current identity and life moving forward. Our curriculum will be threaded together with engaging and progressive learning journeys, which will provide children with an abundance of secure knowledge, vocabulary and historical skills. Child-led enquiry will be a big part of the St. John’s approach. Before their new topics start, children will be given an opportunity to begin to find out about their new area of history learning. After some initial research, they will share what they would like to learn about and this will be taken into account when shaping the topic’s learning journey. Ownership of their History learning, alongside a range of enrichment opportunities, will give children the ‘drive’ to seek answers to any questions they have about the past. It will also raise self-motivation and enable them to be self-regulated learners. Children will draw on all of our school values to shine in History, flourishing not just within our school, but throughout their future learning.

In Reception, History is taught as part of the ‘Past and Present’ aspect of ‘The World’. It is taught through whole class, small group and 1:1 learning with a mixture of adult-led learning and some child-initiated learning with sustained shared thinking. Across the rest of the school, History is taught as part of our Topic curriculum alongside Art, Geography and Design and Technology. This is a deliberate decision in response to the Stakeholder views as well as the high priority we place on deepening knowledge. In order for children to be excited and inspired, it is important they are fully immersed in the learning and can make links to other knowledge acquired– within History and across the curriculum, rather than seeing learning in isolation. Within each year group, the timetabling of History is flexible, depending on the topic learning journey. However, the timings average to approximately 1 hour per week. This ensures breadth and depth of knowledge and secure knowledge retention and skills progression.

To view our policy, click here.

The St John's Approach to teaching - History

History Outcomes