History at Roseberry

Subject Lead:
Mrs Martin (Maternity)
Caretaker Lead:
Mrs Sini

“History should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past.” (National Curriculum)

Aims:
Our school (formed in September 2007 from the joining of the Infant and Junior Schools) is situated on the original Roseberry Estate and has been a major part of the local community for over 50 years. Therefore, its rich history, within the context of the local area, is celebrated and fundamental feature of school. Our history curriculum makes use of both the immediate Billingham and Stockton-on-Tees areas as well as the wider local area that make up the rest of Teesside enabling pupils to leave Roseberry with a deep understanding of the rich history of their locality.

History at Roseberry is well planned and sequenced to ensure that children gain a secure understanding of local, national and global history over time. Children are provided with regular opportunities for practise, retrieval and reinforcement of prior learning. This ensures that knowledge sticks and allows for children to build on their historical knowledge in a meaningful and connected way as they progress through school. The wealth of historical knowledge children gain provides them with the necessary information they need to be able to ‘think like a historian’ and use historical skills to answer carefully selected enquiry questions in each period of history they study. Children therefore develop an extensive base of historical skills, knowledge and vocabulary.
Through high quality teaching, our history curriculum aims to:

• Engender the characteristics of our bespoke Avatars
• Develop an extensive base of historical skills, knowledge and vocabulary
• To develop children’s understanding of how people, places and themes have changed over time
• To know and understand the key civilisations and periods in history and how these piece together to make the history of the world over time
• To enable children to know and understand the key points in history that impact our lives today
• Make greater sense of the world by organising and connecting information and ideas about people and places, civilisations and time periods chronologically
• Provide children with the recognition that life and opportunities in Billingham have changed over time and, like Eager Ethos, they should be proud of their area’s heritage.
• Promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development helping them to have a greater understanding of life in the past, life now and what life might be like in the future, including understanding the impact of decisions made on future generations (RRSA curriculum)
• Support the application of the core subjects of English and mathematics

How is History delivered?

• The history curriculum begins in Early Years with children learning about the concept of ‘the past’ through discussions about familiar people and events from stories.
• Teachers plan and expose children to specific historical vocabulary 
• Children interpret a range of historical sources including: timelines, diagrams, artefacts, photographs, stories, diary entries, books, (a range of primary and secondary sources including those presented via software and interactive programs)
• Children collect, analyse and use a range of information, gathered from primary and secondary sources, to deepen understanding of historical concepts and periods
• Educational visits support learning outside of the classroom. At Roseberry children have opportunities to explore the local area and beyond
• Trips beyond the immediate area are used to provide new experiences and deepen knowledge and understanding e.g. a visit to Eden Camp supports understanding of what life was like in World War 2
• Use of the virtual world is used to enhance children’s real life experiences and develop their cultural capital
• Technologies are used to support and complement learning (including home learning and tailored learning in the classroom) for all pupils including those with SEND
• Lessons are ambitious and designed to give all pupils, including disadvantaged and pupils with SEND, access to the knowledge and skills needed to make progress across the geography curriculum
• Cross curricular opportunities are used to develop and consolidate pupil’s learning in other areas of learning
• Children are encouraged to answer their own questions through enquiry based learning either independently or when working collaboratively with their peers

Each unit of work is planned around a key enquiry questions and four key concepts: achievements, beliefs, hierarchy & trade.

Carefully selected enquiry questions organise our historical content to enable pupils to develop disciplinary and substantive knowledge simultaneously, with their understanding of each supporting the other. Our enquiry questions focus on one or two particular areas of disciplinary knowledge (cause & consequence, change & continuity, similarity & difference, and historical significance). Across the course of a unit, children develop the depth and breadth of knowledge they need to think and argue about the question. Pupils are encouraged to adapt and develop their judgements as their understanding deepens across a series of lessons.

What will be the outcomes?

Pupils will talk confidently about what they have been learning in history and speak with interest about historical events using age appropriate and specific vocabulary.   Over time, pupils knowledge will build – they will be able to build on previous learning supporting their understanding of how the past continues to shape the world and people’s lives.  Pupils will work in collaboration to use historical sources to develop lines of enquiry following the characteristics of Teamwork Tango and Eager Ethos.  Teachers and other adults will support pupils with additional needs so that they can access the same content and are fully inclusive to the provision.  In the Early Years, teachers will be skilled at supporting and guiding pupils to understand the world that they live including the immediate past.  As pupils progress through KS1 and KS2 they will develop the chronological skills necessary to understand when events happened.