At Wavendon Gate School, our history curriculum seeks to give children a solid foundation and broad overview of key historical periods, events and significant individuals so that they become aware of ‘the best that has been thought and said’.
In Foundation and Key Stage 1, learning begins with what is most familiar to children: looking at their own past and those of their families and they begin to make links between different generations. As children’s learning progresses, pupils will study key historical periods such as The Great Fire of London as well as World War II with a focus on local history including Bletchley Park and the impact of this upon lives within our local community. Children will use this knowledge to support them as they move into Key Stage 2.
Within Key Stage 2, children will learn about a comprehensive range of historical events to give them a strong grounding in British history from the first settlements through Roman Britain, the Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Medieval Britain and up to the impact of the Industrial Revolution. These units explore the themes of change and continuity, perspective and power. Children will also cover units from World History including the Shang Dynasty, the Middle East, the Benin Kingdom, African history and Civil Rights. All of which will give children an understanding of the wider world and how we are part of this.
As a school, we are very proud in providing a progressive study of history and place a great deal on emphasis revisiting key ideas and strands in order to extend and further develop pupils’ awareness and understanding of core historical values, aspects of life and trends throughout time. We are all passionate in ensuring that teaching across the whole school challenges pupils to think proactively through the progression of historical concepts and ideas. For example, pupils in Year 1 are introduced to the concept of democracy and politics through Prime Ministers, building upon this in Lower KS2 by looking at the origins of democracy in societies like Ancient Greece and the contrasting political systems of other Ancient societies before transferring and furthering the study in Upper KS2 with a focus on British Parliament and the Civil Rights Movement in America.
Our history curriculum aims to help children understand how past events shape today’s world by making comparisons and connections between different units and the impact that this has had on life today. We aim to inspire children’s curiosity for history and challenge them to make connections across time and place to set them up for a life-long love of an important subject helping them to become curious and active citizens.