History

At Tywardreath School our vision is to create a safe and stimulating environment where all children feel they belong and are able to challenge themselves, take risks and flourish both academically and socially. To develop our children so that they value and respect their own and others individuality, culture and heritage. We are committed to providing a place of excellence with high standards.

To achieve our vision all our children should:

Enjoy their primary school years and develop high self-esteem regardless of ‘academic’ ability.

• Feel safe and secure and have a passion for learning and experience success.
• Develop perseverance, flexibility, independence in a wide range of learning skills.
• Be well mannered, respecting themselves, others and the environment.
• Make a positive contribution to the school and the wider community.
• Enjoy equal opportunities to succeed
• Develop lively, inquiring minds and become confident communicators.
• Experience teaching of the highest quality and develop core skills to a high level.
• Appreciate the beauty, the diversity of the world and their duty to protect it.

At Tywardreath school. School history. Is a crucial part of our curriculum. All children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 have experience of learning about people and events from the past through a range of sources and stimulus. Tywardreath pupils learn history to reflect on events and decisions made in the past allowing for more globally informed viewpoints which respects their own Cornish culture and heritage but also cultures around the world.

Our intention is for pupils to be able to confidently speak about events in history and the impact it had on the people at the time and after. Pupils will be confident at using sources, the arts and visits to investigate historical events, asking and answering historical questions and thinking critically – offering different viewpoints as to why a certain view might have been held. Children will begin 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.

Our history curriculum is designed to inspire and develop high aspirations in all our children so that they have the confidence and abilities to be the best they can be. Our goal is for our children to become historians. Historians must have an excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts and processes. Through their history journey we will introduce our children to some of the most influential and inspiring people, cultures and  civilisations. To become an accomplished historian children will have the ability to think critically about history and communicate their ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.

By carefully planning sequences of lessons where there is a clear progression of skills, knowledge and vocabulary, pupils are able to build on previous learning by making explicit links and therefore remember more. Prior knowledge is activated at the beginning of each history topic and  at the start of each lesson so that pupils can build upon what they know. By sharing and discussing  the sequence of learning with the children and the end point of the topic we are able to be incorporate the pupil's interests and so enhance their engagement. 

We build upon the knowledge and skills of previous years learning. At the beginning of each new history topic, teachers refer to the classroom timelines  to develop children’s understanding of chronology. Use of knowledge organisers help to scaffold and support pupils learning within the history topic.

New vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. We encourage the children to have a desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics.

Through our planning, we involve problem-solving opportunities that allow children to apply their knowledge, and find out answers for themselves. These opportunities allow children to think critically about history and confidently communicate their ideas, evaluating and challenging their own and others’ views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their research skills to discover the answers. This curiosity is celebrated within the classroom.

Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, involving high-quality resources to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge. Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills, and assess pupils regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all children are able to make progress. Tasks are selected and designed to provide appropriate challenge to all learners, in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.

Children are offered a wide range of extra -curricular activities, visits, trips and visitors to complement and broaden the curriculum. We aim to excite and intrigue our children to find out more about cultures, civilisations and significant people from the past. These are purposeful and link with the knowledge being taught in class. Regular events such as History week or project days (such as Historical Figures Day) allows all pupils to come off-timetable, to provide a broader provision and the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. These events aim to involve families and the wider community

At the end of each topic, key knowledge is reviewed and rigorously checked by the teacher and consolidated as necessary.

Our aim is that children will develop a passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways.

 

Impact

Pupil’s history knowledge is assessed at the end of each topic. We use a range of assessment for learning strategies including:

• Pre and post unit assessments examples include low stake quizzing, pupil conferencing.
• Questioning, feedback and peer assessment
• Knowledge organiser facts and formative assessments during lessons.

Monitoring by our history lead includes:

• Pupil voice
• Teacher consultation/questionnaires
• Book looks
• Evidence of workshops/staff meetings.
• WOW Days and Fantastic Finales.