History

At Winston Way Academy, we want to teach high quality engaging history lessons which inspire children to be excited when learning about the past. The history curriculum provides children with a coherent, chronological knowledge of the history of Britain and the wider world, starting off with local history and working towards global history. This is shown through the framework of three vertical concepts: 

Quest for knowledge 

Learning about how people in the past gained their knowledge. 

Power, empire and democracy 

Learning about who has power and how they can use it.  

Community and family 

Learning about how family and community relationships are different in different historical contexts. 

We want children to think and act like historians and our curriculum allows that, along with providing opportunities for children to see themselves reflected in the curriculum. We want our children to be so confident in their knowledge of history that they can try to answer challenging historically-valid questions. 

Teachers plan with the three vertical concepts in mind and understand the end point. As part of this planning process, teachers plan the following:    

• A knowledge organiser which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary) all children must master  
• A sequence of learning which follows the Rosenshine Principles of Instruction  
• A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth  
• Low stakes quizzes which are used regularly to support learners’ ability to retrieve and recall knowledge and increase space in the working memory
• Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner    
• Trips and visits from experts who will enhance the learning experience 

Our History Curriculum is high quality, well sequenced and planned to demonstrate progression. We believe that if children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are making good or better progress. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:    

• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes   
• Low stakes quizzes (pre-learning and post-learning quiz) for every unit 
• Pupil’s books  
• Pupil discussions about their learning      

We enhance our curriculum by organising guest speakers and visitors, organising History days which focus on key historical events and promote careers in history. We also provide additional opportunities such as school trips to enrich pupil’s understanding and provide context through first-hand experiences.