History at St. Gregory's 

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Aims and end points

By the end of KS1, pupils should have a secure understand of the concepts of significance and chronology, as well as having been introduced to other important historical skills such as comparing and contrasting. They will have also studied the impact of history on communities. In particular, pupils will have become familiar with the lives of several significant individuals from the past (such as Walter Tull, Neil Armstrong and Mary Seacole) who have contributed to national and international achievements, using them to compare aspects of life in different periods of history. They will understand where the events they have studied fit within a wider chronological framework.

By the end of Lower KS2, pupils will have developed their understanding of a range of historical concepts, such as continuity and change and cause and effect (for example, when studying the reasons why the Romans came to Britain). In particular, they will have a secure knowledge of the characteristics of a range of historical societies - such as the Christian communities in Anglo Saxon Britain, the Vikings and Ancient Egypt - which they will have learnt about in chronological order to support their understanding of an increasingly complex narrative through time. Pupils will have also become more skilled historians when studying the distant past and will be competent when handling and interpreting different sources of evidence (for example, when deciding who most likely built the pyramids of Ancient Egypt in Year 4).

By the end of Upper KS2, pupils will be competent across the full range of historical concepts and skills but will have begun acquiring the skills they need for a successful transition to KS3 history, such as understanding how evidence is used, as well as they key skills of inference and deduction to help them form informed responses to an enquiry and draw historically-valid conclusions. Pupils will also develop an awareness that history is an interpretation of the past. For example, through their study of the Benin Bronzes in Year 5, pupils will be able to articulate how colonialism has influenced the way history has been told. In Year 6, pupils will have deepened their understanding of chronology in studying two significant periods in human history at opposite ends of the timeline - the Stone Age and WWII - and will be able to identify how our local community has been influenced by historical periods and events.

Through our whole curriculum, pupils will be equipped with the key vocabulary that will enable them to understand and articulate their responses to a range of challenging and interesting historical enquiries that will require them to use and refine a range of skills to discover their place in history.

Enhancement

• Visits to sites of historical significance, such as the RAF museum in Hendon and Verulamium (St. Albans)
• Special immersive experience days, such as Viking Day, where pupils dress in historical costume and take part in various workshops and activities
• Developing awareness of important historic and national proceedings, such as Remembrance Sunday and Black History Month through assemblies and specific history lessons 
• ​Inviting in speakers and members of our school community to help pupils find out more about the past