Mrs Smith leads History throughout the school.

‘I have always had a passion for learning about the past, brought on by listening to war stories retold by parents and grandparents, including vivid accounts of the blitz in Swansea where I was brought up. Through many family visits to museums, castles and places of historical interest, my passion for History continued throughout High School. Inspired by my parents, teachers and past experiences, I continued to study History at A Level.

Since becoming History Subject Leader at Euxton CE Primary, I have been passionate about ensuring children are given the opportunity to become enthused about the past and I have endeavoured to develop a high-quality History curriculum. Drawing on the rich local heritage of Lancashire, my aim has been to develop children’s natural curiosity into the past, as well as celebrating the community and diversity.

Alongside my colleagues, I have developed links with local museums and historians to help provide the children at school with quality artefacts, sources and resources which help bring the past to life.

My vision as History Subject Lead is that every child at school will share my passion for learning about the past, whilst developing their skills as historians and becoming critical thinkers.'

Mrs Smith

At Euxton Church of England Primary School, the aim of history teaching is to ensure that all pupils are given the opportunity to learn about the past in Britain and the wider world. History is a valued part of the curriculum at our school, with detailed planning providing learning opportunities that spark children’s curiosity and inspire them to learn about real people who lived in the past and about real events, set in a context of time. 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. We aim to equip pupils with the appropriate skills to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgement. At Euxton Church of England Primary School, we understand our responsibility in preparing children for their next stage of education and for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life, laying the foundations so that they can take their place successfully in modern British society. We promote a respect for and understanding of different faiths, cultures and lifestyles. The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of each child is central to our school vision and opportunities to make links with other cultures/religions are promoted, as evidenced in the long term and medium-term plans produced by teachers in each year group.

Knowledge

At Euxton CE Primary School, we aim to deliver a high-quality history education. History is taught through a thematic approach. In Key Stage 2, British History topics are studied in chronological order to support children’s understanding of chronology. Local history topics also tie in with this chronology. World History topics are sequenced in order of theme: Y3 study the beginnings of Ancient civilisations- where and when they appeared, Y5 study the impact of Ancient Greece on modern life and Y6 study a non- European society that provides contrasts with British History. Our curriculum is planned with care and precision so as to engage and inspire pupils of all ability levels. The detailed plans produced by teachers enable children to access the curriculum at their own level. Long term and medium term plans produced throughout the school clearly map out the themes covered each term for each year group. In addition to outlining the themes to be covered, the plans ensure an appropriate balance and distribution of skills to be taught each term. History objectives have been linked to each theme to ensure full curriculum coverage. Children are also given the opportunity to apply their historical skills and knowledge to other curriculum areas. Cross-curricular opportunities are provided throughout the school such as Design and Technology (building castles in KS1, Roman shields in KS2), Art (Fire of London, Stonehenge collages), Drama (Thematic Days-World War 2, The Romans, The Vikings), Computing (internet research of significant events and individuals), Maths (reading of graphs and charts) and Geography (journeys that historical figures have undertaken).

Assessment

Teachers monitor each child’s progress using formative assessment and adjust their teaching accordingly to suit the needs of individuals. Teachers complete History assessment grids on a termly basis, assessing the children as being at the expected standard, working at the expected standard with evidence of greater depth or working towards the expected standard. Children are interviewed on an informal basis during lesson observations by the History Subject Leader, providing them with a pupil voice. This process enables the History Lead to gauge pupil opinions about the teaching of History, as well monitor the the understanding of disciplinary and substantive knowledge learned.

Create an Euxton model of assessment (5 checkpoints) which embeds retrieval practices and supports a robust monitoring and assessment cycle.

Develop chronological understanding over a variety of units of time.

Children to answer or devise questions about the past.

The history curriculum is enriched through the provision of high- quality resources, as well as through the implementation of dedicated History Days (i.e. Anglo- Saxon feast, Viking Day, World War 2 Day). Children are encouraged to share any primary and secondary sources of evidence from home that are linked to the theme being taught in class (e.g. war diaries, gas masks, ration books, topic-related non- fiction texts, photographs etc.). Visitors (parents / grandparents) are invited into school to share their artefacts / historical experiences with the children (e.g. a parent shared his World War 2 memorabilia with the school, a Stone Age to the Iron Age in-school workshop session led by Widget Workshops). Visits are also arranged to places of historical interest related to topic areas covered (e.g. Clitheroe castle, Ribchester, Bolton Museum). Children in Year 2 and Year 5 are given the opportunity to watch the Wonderdome Mobile Planetarium Show (cross-curricular link to the history topic on Space in Year 2).