Rationale
At Airy Hill, we encourage our pupils to be passionate about history. As a school, we believe that a high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. We aim to inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past and encourage them to question why people interpret the past in different ways. The high-quality teaching of History within Airy Hill encourages children to ask perceptive questions as well as developing skills such as thinking critically, being able to weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement. It is our role as a school to ensure that our pupils experience a rich and relevant curriculum, not just gaining knowledge of Britain’s past, and our place in the world, but helping them to understand the challenges of our own time, through studying the past and gaining skills for the future. Our bespoke curriculum, has a focus on issues critical to Whitby people today and Whitby’s past.
Aims
Our bespoke planning aims to understand significant aspects of history from Britain and Whitby’s past to the history of the wider world and other cultures. We aim to develop pupils’ oracy and enquiry skills through asking a range of questions about the past, and understanding the past through studying a range of sources.
Key Concepts
We focus on the key concepts of: religion, travel and exploration, conflict, society, leadership, economy and achievements and legacy.
Skills Progression
Our curriculum takes children on their journey from Nursery to Year 6. In EYFS, we implement History through planned and purposeful play, exploring key historical vocabulary and learning about key events in their lives and in the world, throughout the year. We follow children’s interest but provide further challenge through adult interactions and by providing resources to learn about historical events. Through school, pupils’ knowledge develops through studying concepts based around our key concepts.
Intent
We aim to inspire children to be curious about the past and recognise its significance today. We want to equip children with the knowledge they need 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. We intend to inspire pupils curiosity from the past and recognise what we can learn from it today.
Implementation
At Airy Hill, In EYFS, each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults. As children grow older, and as their development allows, it is expected that the balance will gradually shift towards more activities led by adults, to help children prepare for more formal learning, ready for Year 1
In school we implement history by using a range of high-quality resources; using continuous CPD to ensure excellent teacher subject knowledge and high order questioning; we bring history to life with practical projects, trips, visits and drama; and through our bespoke planning we plan learning to build on knowledge and skills throughout each Key Stage from EYFS to Year 6.
Impact
Our children understand key events and how they effect people from Whitby, Britain and the rest of the world. They understand how the past impacts on how we act and treat others today and how history has shaped the local area, Britain and the world we live in. Airy Hill pupils are passionate about history and its significance today and they can talk confidently about their learning. Professional judgements for history are recorded each term so the impact of our curriculum can be measured.
