St Werburgh's & St Columba's History
“History cannot give us a programme for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.”
Robert Penn-Warren
What is the vision for History in our school?
At St Werburgh’s and St Columba’s Primary school, we want our children to receive a high-quality history education that will help them gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world, and that will inspire curiosity to know more about the past. Pupils will be equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History teaching in our school 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.
What does our History curriculum offer to our pupils?
As children progress through our school we want them to receive a history curriculum that ignites in them a curiosity and fascination about the history of their local area, Britain, and the wider world through an enquiry based approach. Pupils will learn to ask increasingly complex historical questions and to use a wide range of evidence, such as artefacts, photographs, and oral and written records to support answers. We will equip students with the necessary skills and methodologies to explore both recent and distant past events. We want our children to confidently use an extensive and increasingly sophisticated historical vocabulary and to develop a secure chronological awareness and understanding of local, British, and global history. We aim to foster a deep understanding of how history has moulded our present-day society, encompassing key historical concepts like transformation and continuity, similarity and difference, and causality.
Our history curriculum has been carefully developed to reflect and celebrate the diversity of our school community and local area and to progressively develop both historical knowledge and skills. It integrates substantive historical knowledge with disciplinary historical processes, encouraging students to approach historical events with curiosity, construct arguments, assess evidence critically, and formulate their own perspectives. Regular opportunities are built into the curriculum for students to review and reflect on the content they are studying, facilitating the consolidation of newly acquired knowledge into long-term memory. We are aware that our pupils need to have a clear understanding of the cultural diversity which exists within and beyond our school and seek opportunities to deepen our pupils’ awareness, understanding and tolerance of the multicultural world in which we live through their study of history.
What effect does our History curriculum have on our children?
We want our pupils to see the relevance of their history learning in wider life beyond school and to equip them with a variety of adaptable skills, the capacity to conduct research and critically assess information sources. We hope that the fuller understanding of themselves, their community and the wider world that the study of history instils in our children will better enable them to continue their lifelong learning journey with curiosity, understanding and compassion.
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Curriculum Unit Overviews
Below are a series of links to the units of work that the children will be exploring during each academic year. The document outlines the key objectives and vocabulary that the children will encounter during their learning.