National Curriculum Purpose of study

A high-quality geography education should inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people that will remain with them for the rest of their lives. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places, people, resources and natural and human environments, together with a deep understanding of the Earth’s key physical and human processes. As pupils progress, their growing knowledge about the world should help them to deepen their understanding of the interaction between physical and human processes, and of the formation and use of landscapes and environments. Geographical knowledge, understanding and skills provide the frameworks and approaches that explain how the Earth’s features at different scales are shaped, interconnected and change over time.

History at Highfields Primary School

History is taught through our Contexts for Learning where children will be immersed in experiences through trips, looking at artefacts and sources and welcoming in guest speakers. They will be given opportunities to research time periods and key events where they will question the past and its impact on the lives of people now and into the future. They will be given the chance to articulate their interpretations through a range of oracy and written tasks.

Each history context is driven by ‘big questions’ and our staff teach a series of lessons that set out to equip our children with the knowledge and skills needed to articulate their understanding.

Our questions frame an enquiry model for history and each lesson is structured to provoke interest and support the acquisition of this key knowledge in order to answer the questions outlined below:

Year	Historic Context	‘Big Questions’ driving the context enquiry
Year 1	Our School	How has Highfields changed? (Continuity and change)
Year 1	Toys	How have toys changed in the past century? (Similarities + Differences)
Year 2	Significant People	Why are Mary Anning and David Attenborough significant individuals? Can we still see the work of x today? (Significance)
Year 2	The Great Fire of London	What were the causes of the GFOL? Do the consequences of it still impact us today? (Cause and Consequence)
Year 3	Stone Age to Iron Age	How did life change in Britain during Prehistory? (Continuity and Change) Which change was most significant to the way people lived? (Significance)
Year 3	The Egyptians	Where and when did the earliest civilisations begin? (Evidence) What were the significant achievements of the Ancient Egyptians? (Significance)
Year 4	Ancient Civilisations (Including: Greeks, Romans and Ancient Islam)	What impact did the ancient civilisations have on the world? (Significance) Greeks – What was the influence of the Greeks on the western world? (Significance) Romans – What was the Roman Empire? (Evidence) How did Britain change as part of the empire? (Cause and consequence, Continuity and change) Islamic - What did Early Islamic civilisations leave behind? (Evidence)
Year 5	On Our Doorstep (local History)	How has Leicester changed over the past two centuries? (Evidence, continuity and change)
Year 5	Anglo Saxons and Vikings	Who were the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings? (Evidence) Why did they invade and settle in the UK? (Evidence, Interpretation) Does describing Vikings as vicious raiders portray them accurately? (Interpretation) What did the Anglo-Saxons + Vikings leave behind? (Evidence)
Year 6	The World Wars	What were the causes of the wars? How did the wars impact Britain? (Cause and consequence)
Year 6	Threats to the Throne	How has the Monarchy changed over time? (Continuity and change) Why are monarchs remembered in different ways? (Interpretation)

As you can see, children are taught a wide range of historical periods as they progress through the school. Despite the topics spanning thousands of years, we ensure similar themes are taught throughout our topics to allow the children to make comparisons and understand how things changed overtime.

Our common threads are:

• Local Significance
• Minorities
• Role of Women
• Achievements
• Beliefs
• Settlements
• Leisure and Lifestyle
• Civilisation
• Empire
• Invasion
• Monarchy

These themes are woven into lessons across the entire history curriculum to support their understanding of social aspects that affect our society today.