History at Walton on the Hill Primary School

Our Aim

At Walton on the Hill Primary school, we want children to develop a sense of the past and how this shapes the present and the future.  Fundamental to this is enabling children to develop an awareness of chronology and an understanding of the order in which events happen.  Children will also be taught to use historical language accurately to describe the passing of time.

The Walton Approach

We are moving towards teaching historically based topics in half termly units in each year group 2 – 3 times a year.   Where possible, links will be made to other areas of the curriculum to strengthen learning and embed knowledge.  There will be an emphasis on enquiry based learning, which enables children to generate questions and seek answers for themselves.

Foundation Stage history covered in our Reception class is part of the national curriculum’s learning objectives for developing children's understanding of the world, so they will learn through experiences that introduce the concept of time and change.

In Key Stage 1, the history curriculum will focus on events, famous people and historical themes such as Castles and Transport.

In Key Stage 2, the history curriculum will focus on key periods of time both within the history of Great Britain and ancient civilisations such as Ancient Egypt.

Where possible children will use artefacts and primary source material to encourage children to ask and answer questions for themselves.  Research will be carried out using books and the internet.  Learning will be enhanced with trips and experts visiting the school.

We have identified key skills that the children will have been taught at the end of each year group so that learning is sequential and prior knowledge can be built on.  This will ensure that by the end of Year 6, all children will have covered the National Curriculum and have a good understanding of chronology.