History Subject Intent

Dignity, Community, Hope and Wisdom

'Journeying together with hope and aspiration'

Through our history curriculum at Gainsborough Parish Church Primary School, we aim to produce a generation of historians by encouraging children to gain a coherent and chronological knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world, and how this has shaped and influenced modern living.  This will support children to gain a sense of their own identity within a social, political, cultural and economic background.  Children will be equipped to become curious learners, who are able to think critically and develop perspective and judgement by weighing evidence, sifting through arguments and asking perceptive questions, from Early Years through to Year 6.  Children will develop a deep understanding of the historical concepts taught and they will be able to build upon their prior knowledge. We encourage regular references to timelines and a hands-on approach involving artefacts and visits to bring history alive to our learners.  Children will be provided with the opportunity to understand different historical concepts, such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference and significance. These concepts will then allow the children to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends and create their own accounts and arguments.  

The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:  

• know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world  

• know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind  

• gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’  

• understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses  

• understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed History – key stages 1 and 2 2  

• gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military.