History Vision
An Evendons historian will be able to use historical enquiry to understand the history of their local area ,Wokingham and Reading, the UK and the world. They will develop their understanding of one or more of the following: evidence; interpretations; cause; change; similarity and differences and significance at an age appropriate level through questioning. Their learning will have been advanced by real experiences. Finally, at the end of the sequence children will communicate their findings and present it effectively.
The main themes running through all the Discover curriculum areas are:
- Experiential learning
- Diversity
- Progression of skills
- Communication
- STEM
History Intent
Through our thematic curriculum where children fully immerse themselves in units for a term ,we intend to develop enquiring minds that will, over time, make connections between, judgements about and perhaps gain a respect for the actions, choices and achievements of significant people from history. Our curriculum makes use of primary and secondary sources of evidence and we encourage our pupils to gather information, make further enquiries, analyse their findings and have the courage to ask questions about authenticity, perspective and reliability
The coverage of recent history in KS1 such as ‘Toys’ and ‘Transport (Boats)’ enables children to acquire an understanding of time, events and people in their memory and their parents’ and grandparents’ memories. For KS1, we have designed a curriculum that can be covered chronologically in reverse to allow a full opportunity for children to really grasp the difficult concept of the passing of time and events within and beyond living memory.
The intent in lower KS2 is that children can work to study ancient history which crosses time periods such as Ancient Egypt, Stone Age to Iron Age, the Maya and Roman Britain. Children start to understand how some historical events occurred concurrently in different locations, e.g. Ancient Egypt and the Stone Age. Upper KS2 allows children to repeat and embed this sequence of chronology with a wider selection of chronological history such as their study of Victorians and Children of War.
Our commitment to learning outside the classroom can be seen through the educational visits across the school, which help to bring the past to life.We recognise the subject’s importance in helping our pupils become Global citizens – as they explore the differences and similarities between events, people, places, cultures and environments through time at a local, national and international level, we want them to recognise the interconnectedness and interdependence of our world’s history.
Implementation
History at Evendons is planned coherently as a sequence of weekly history lessons across a half term which ensures progression, skills and concepts required in the National Curriculum have full coverage. Each year group studies three or four history units across the year, and these units are the length of a half term. More information on these units can be found in our history overview below.
Each history unit has an enquiry question which forms the foundation for the knowledge we aim for children to acquire throughout the lessons. For example in Year 5’s Extreme Earth unit, their historical enquiry question is ‘What does historical evidence tell us about Pompeii?’ Children will critically investigate sources in lessons to answer this question.
Our History teaching aims to develop historical skills and concepts which are transferable to whatever period of history is being studied and will equip children for future learning. These key historical skills and concepts, which are revisited throughout different units as children move up the school, are:
1. Source analysis and interpretation
2. Historical enquiry and investigation
3. Understanding chronology
4. Communicating historically.
History Whole School Overview
History Impact
Children leave Evendons as historians, having developed their knowledge about the history units they have studied, alongside developing an understanding of historical concepts and working historically. Our curriculum is developed to ensure children frequently encounter familiar concepts (such as the concept of ‘Empire’ and ‘Innovation’) and build their understanding of these as they move through school.
Children experience special days, visitors and school trips that enrich and deepen their learning within history units.These include immersive dress up days with a range of hands-on, engaging activities.
We use our school Virtual Reality Headsets to bring historical learning to life, giving children opportunities to see things and places they’ve never seen before! Some examples include the exploration of Chichen Itza during the Maya unit, a Roman hypocaust when studying the Romans and close observation of historical artefacts such as Ancient Egyptian jewellery and pottery.
Black History Month
We spent the month of October celebrating the significant contributions Black People have made to history, following this year’s theme ‘Time for change: Action not words’. There was a series of whole school assemblies on this theme and children studied people in class assemblies and lessons. This raised awareness of significant individuals they had not previously studied. The children’s work was displayed in the school hall and the school newsletter. Here is some pupil voice from this month of work:
Our school celebrates the children’s historical learning by displaying their work and provides opportunities for children to share what they have learnt.
Sam Grimes – Evendons History Lead