History

Our high-quality history education enables pupils to gain a coherent narrative of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

Our curriculum aims to inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Pupils will learn to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time. We teach children the skills and disciplines of how to ‘be a historian’: To investigate and interpret the past; To build an overview of world history; To understand chronology; To communicate historically.

We recognise that it is not always possible to teach historical units in chronological order and therefore expect every child to develop a sense of chronology within each unit of learning. This is reinforced with a class timeline that is frequently updated and added to as children learn new information about the past.

With each unit comes the opportunity to look at changes within the locality of the school: Dundry and Bristol. Part of the history curriculum works closely alongside geography and meaningful links are made to help children make sense of their learning. Trips, visitors, experiences and high quality resources enrich the learning experiences and offer cultural capital. Learning in history will also be supported with high quality texts so children can increase and develop their historical vocabulary.

We have chosen ‘big ideas’ (also known as ‘threshold concepts’) that run through our history curriculum. These help children to develop conceptual understanding over time and to link old learning to new learning. These concepts are:

Progression in History

To ensure children ‘catch up’ following the disruption of the Coronavirus pandemic our 2-year cycle has been revised to revisit any missed content. Units will start with recap and revision to ensure that children are secure in essential prior knowledge before moving on. Below you will find our history pathway. This illustrates the history journey children will take during their time at Dundry Primary.