History at Swarcliffe Primary School
At Swarcliffe, our history curriculum is taught within selected half termly topics. This supports our pupils in developing a wide range of skills, including:
- Historical knowledge
- Historical concepts
- Historical enquiry
- Chronological awareness
At Swarcliffe, we understand the importance of being literate and pride ourselves in developing these core skills within a rich and broad curriculum. We expect our children to apply all these skills to the best of their ability in all subjects in our curriculum.
As well as this, we endeavour to interest our children in their learning with a creative and cross-curricular approach. To do this, we use quality texts relating to the topics, which extends the learning opportunities beyond that particular subject area.
EY Foundation Stage
Children in EY Foundation Stage talk about the past and present in their own lives and in the lives of their family members. They look closely at similarities and differences between themselves and others, including looking at other families, communities and traditions.
Key Stage One
Children in KS1 are able to use basic language to describe chronological understanding such as a long time ago, past and present. They are able to understand the different between past and present and are gaining confidence in ordering historical events with the use of a timeline.
At Swarcliffe, KS1 children learn facts about significant historical figures from beyond living memory, both globally and locally. They are able to ask questions about historical events, people and places.
Throughout the course of the year, children gain confidence in retelling stories from the past. Children are given a range of resources to support learning such as books, artefacts and photographs. They look at different types of historical resources and can identify which are more reliable than others.
Key Stage Two
Children in KS2 begin to develop vocabulary to describe chronology and understand the terms century, millennium and BC/AD. They are gaining accuracy in labelling historical events on timelines and can talk about significant events in relation to each other.
In KS2, children begin to understand how the actions of people in the past have affected our lives today. They can recount main global events, including some interesting detail, and use evidence to describe historical features including buildings, clothes and people.
At Swarcliffe, children are encouraged to explore different versions of the same event to identify differences in accounts. They can explain why a source may be reliable or unreliable and can understand that different evidence can lead to different conclusions about the same historical event. As well as this, they can ask specific questions about events relating to who, what, where, when and why.
Our Important People
Our History texts
Examples of additional texts we use to enhance our history curriculum:
Stone Girl, Bone Girl - Dinosaurs Year 1/2
I am Amelia Earhart – Transport Year 1/2
Escape from Pompeii – Ancient Romans Year 3/4
Tim Peake Ask an Astronaut – Space Year 5/6
Our History Lessons
Our History Curriculum
Our History Knowledge Organisers
| Name | |
|---|---|
| History - Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.pdf | Download |
| History - Kings and Queens.pdf | Download |
| History - Pre-Historic.pdf | Download |
| History - The Golden Ace of Piracy.pdf | Download |
| History - The Great Fire of London.pdf | Download |
| History - The Gunpowder Plot.pdf | Download |
| History - The History of Flight.pdf | Download |
| History - The Moon Landing.pdf | Download |
Useful Links
KS1 BBC Bitesize-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zkqmhyc
KS2 BBC Bitesize-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zcw76sg
Natural History Museum-
Leeds City Museum-
