Dubmire Primary Academy

History

Subject Lead - Mr R Topping

‘We are not makers of history. We are made by history!’ 

History, the study of the past, is all around us; we are continually making history through our thoughts, words and actions. History is personal and global; it is everyday life and momentous occasions. History is about people.

Through our study of the past, we can understand how our own world works. We can also understand how and why things happen to us.

Intent - What Do We Aspire for Our Children?

Our Curriculum Intent for History

At Dubmire, we provide a high-quality history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, chronological and coherent knowledge about British, local and world history. Curriculum content is knowledge, vocabulary and experience rich, delivered in a sequenced chronological order, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract historical concepts as they move through school. Our curriculum reflects our locality and endeavours to ensure children are knowledgeable about their locality’s history and the changes it has seen. Our history curriculum promotes curiosity and a love for learning about the past.  Through an enquiry-based approach, children are encouraged to ask and explore historically valid questions and report their findings by drawing on skills from across the curriculum. Alongside the development of substantive knowledge, children will develop their disciplinary skills as they learn the fundamental elements of what it is to be a historian. Children will study a range of cultures and historical perspectives enabling them to be respectful, tolerant and empathetic. Children will leave Dubmire being knowledgeable about key people, events and time periods from the past and will weave these together to form overarching historical narratives.

Implementation - How Will We Deliver the Curriculum?

Knowledge at the Heart of the Curriculum

Learning knowledge is not an endpoint in itself, it is a springboard to learning more knowledge. Each unit in our overview is underpinned by rich, substantive knowledge and ambitious vocabulary, whilst also ensuring children are developing their disciplinary knowledge (historical skills). Each unit of work is planned carefully to ensure concepts are taught in optimal order to support children's understanding. As well as developing a breadth of historical knowledge, we want our children to become skilful historians. Each unit of work has an emphasis on historical enquiry where children investigate historically framed questions whilst also developing historical enquiries of their own. In addition to substantive and disciplinary knowledge, children will develop their experiential knowledge through museum visits, handling artifacts and engaging in carefully planned fieldwork. 

EYFS

Children in EYFS will use a range of stories and personal experiences to develop their understanding of the world (Past and Present). Children will use interest based topics to:

• Talk about the lives of people around them and their roles in society.
• Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now.
• Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.

 KS1

In KS1 children will develop an awareness of the past, whilst understanding common themes relating to the past. They should 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. A wide range of vocabulary will be used in order to ask and answer questions. Children in this key stage will use stories and other sources in order to build up their understanding about a time or person from the past. Children will be exposed to substantive and disciplinary concepts in order to build chronological knowledge, make links between periods of time and set foundations of understanding for KS2 history. 

KS2

Pupils will build upon previously learned time periods and concepts, in order to develop a chronological and secure knowledge of history. Children will study British, local and world history and note any trends or narratives within and across the studied periods. Pupils will regularly address and devise historically valid questions and use knowledge learned in order to construct well informed responses.  Children in this key stage will understand how knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources. Teaching will ensure that history is combined and in-depth to help pupils understand both long arc developments and complex aspects.

Holocaust Memorial and Museum Visit

This week, we were lucky enough to welcome an expert historian in Debbie Moss, who visited from The Holocaust Memorial and Museum. Debbie is a historical educator and author who has a vast knowledge of the times between 1930 and 1945.  Children in Year 6 got a chance to observe historical artefacts while understanding the Kindertransport story of a boy called Leo. Throughout the lesson, children were tasked with being historians and using specific skills to form a picture of the past. 

Debbie is a well-respected author who has produced a number of texts, including 'Angels Teeth'. We were fortunate enough to be given a copy of the book which we will work on in class this term. If you our your child would like to purchase 'Angels Teeth' to aid with understanding or just to read for pleasure, you can find it on Amazon. 

Nuremberg Trials 

To conclude our Holocaust unit and to incorporate crime and punishment, Year 6 re-created the famous Nuremberg Trials. Students played the roles of witnesses, defendants, jury members, audience and more. See the document attached for picture.