• know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

St Mary’s long term planning has been developed to ensure coverage and progression across the whole school. Planning builds on prior learning. Topics are planned to ensure coverage through different periods in History.

Our carefully planned History topics ensure teachers plan for as many cross curricular links as possible during their history lessons. History contributes significantly to the teaching of Literacy in our school by actively promoting the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Some of the texts that we use in Literacy are historical in nature. Children develop oracy through discussing historical questions or presenting their findings to the rest of the class. They develop their writing ability by composing reports and letters and through using writing frames.

Displays are used as a celebration of the children’s work, and may include photos. Sometimes displays will be used as a working knowledge wall.

What’s the impact as a result of learning this subject?

We aim to provide children with an understanding of the chronological timeline for History. We would like to instil within children a passion for history which ignites their curiosity about the past and how that has shaped our lives today.

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.