History at The Divine Mercy

Intent

History lessons at the Divine Mercy will aim to inspire curiosity and fascination with local, British and World history. We focus on developing historical skills and children working as historians; we want our children to develop the skills to appropriately use research and sources to consider historical information and to develop a range and depth of historical knowledge and chronological understanding. 

We intend for our children to have real life experiences and learn about history in an active and creative way.  We will promote a knowledge of local history across the school and make Children will also understand how their Catholic faith and British Values relate to History.

Implementation

At The Divine Mercy history is taught through the Learning Challenge Curriculum as part of a theme. Links to Geography and other subject areas are explored. Children generate questions they would like to learn about and the planning of learning always begins with these along with the skills and knowledge that needs to be taught. SMSC questions, linked to history lessons, are included on planning to encourage children to relate their Catholic faith to the history they are learning. Enrichment opportunities are planned to ‘bring history to life’ and opportunities to apply learning are carefully mapped. Within our knowledge-rich approach, there is also a strong emphasis on people and the community of our local area.

By the end of year 6, children will have a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. They are able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives. Interlinked with this are studies of world history, such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Mayans. Time-lines are created and displayed to demonstrate how periods of history interlink and overlap. 

Outcomes of work are regularly monitored to ensure that they reflect a sound understanding of the key identified knowledge. 

Impact

Outcomes in our Learning Challenge Curriculum books will evidence a broad and balanced history curriculum and demonstrate the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge. Children record what they have learned comparative to their starting points at the end of every topic. As children progress through the school they develop a secure chronological understanding.