Intent, Implementation and Impact 

Studying History is an opportunity for the children to explore the development of Great Britain chronologically, with specific focus on the Basingstoke area in Year 4.  In addition, they learn about civilizations in other parts of the world and their impact on life today.  The children are encouraged to recognise the achievements and changes that have taken place, whilst also questioning how we know about them and recognising different viewpoints. Enquiry is a key aspect of history; it develops the children to be critical thinkers and to develop well-reasoned responses.

When speaking to children in each year group, the majority are very enthusiastic about their learning in History projects.  There has been a positive development on the teaching of chronology with an emphasis on duration – this is learned practically and with diagrams to help the children relate it to their own concept of time and is covered in all year groups.  There is an increased development of enquiry based teaching and active learning – this does require preparation prior to the lesson but creates more discussion and deeper learning. Activities have been developed to enable children to research without relying on the internet – this is important as it must be accessible to all children.  Recording of learning is also being developed – there are many children who are fantastic history detectives, but find it difficult to record in a written piece.

As a school, we are focusing on specific history skills (change, interpretation) in each project – this means that the children can think more deeply on specific questions.