Intent:

The National Curriculum states that a high-quality history education will:

• Help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.
• Inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past.
• Equip pupils to ask perceptive questions; think critically; and develop perspective and judgement.
• Ensure pupils understand the complexity of other people’s lives; the process of change across history; the diversity of different societies; relationships between different groups; their own different identities; and the challenges of our own time.

At St Pius X Catholic Primary School, we want all of our children to have an understanding of the past in both local and global contexts and how history shapes the future. We aim to stimulate all children’s interest and understanding in the past, to allow them to develop cultural identity and respect for others. Through specific historical enquiry, our children learn the importance of asking questions, forming opinions and using this to help them develop an understanding of the relationship between the past and their lives today.

Implementation:

Through our engaging topics on the International Primary Curriculum, our children gain knowledge of a variety of times, including ancient, modern, recent and living history. We provide regular opportunities for children to investigate and interpret the past, build an overview of local and global history, understand chronology and communicate historically. In order to develop as historians, our pupils learn about significant events in specific periods and places and develop skills of critical analysis, including identifying bias within a broad range of primary and secondary sources. We continually assess our children’s historical understanding through knowledge harvests, targeted questioning and effective discussions between teachers and pupils. We encourage pupils to explain their reasoning processes and the type of thinking they have used so that we can fully understand their level of skills and knowledge.

Progression of Historical Skills and Knowledge 

In order to prepare our pupils to be successful future citizens of our local and global communities, we believe that students should be taught vocabulary explicitly and systematically. As a result, we hope that they will be able to articulate complex ideas in history and thus deepen their learning and understanding even further. 

Vocabulary Progression in History

Impact:

As our pupils engage with our history curriculum throughout their time at St Pius X Catholic Primary School, they develop an understanding of world history and the interconnectedness of the past. They cultivate an understanding of and empathy for peoples of the past by engaging with multiple perspectives accessed through a variety of sources. Our pupils feel confident to discuss what they have learnt in history and are able to articulate their ideas through subject specific vocabulary. 

What do our pupils think?

"I found it really interesting when I learned about Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. It was fascinating to learn about the different battles that they were involved in and the similarities and differences between the two civilizations." Year 6

"I liked learning about the impact the Romans had on Britain. Did you know that they helped build our civilization as we know it? For example, they introduced roads in England.

In Chelmsford, the A12 was actually first built by the Romans!"  Year 6 

"I loved Black History Month. I really liked learning about how black people stood up for their rights, like Martin Luther King, because everyone should be treated equally."  Year 4

Click here to see history in action at St Pius X Catholic Primary School.