History

History-  How the past has impacted on our life

‘How the past has impacted on our life’ mantra is an underlying feature of all of our history lessons, which focus on the legacy of different historical periods, the relationship between them and the impact on our lives. This is planned for in order to allow curriculum links to be made and to promote critical thinking about how current learning fits within people’s lives. This helps children to develop an awareness of their position in the world and actively link their knowledge across the curriculum. 

At Monkhouse, we provide a broad balanced and progressive History curriculum from their entry in nursery until the end of KS2 in year 6. History is integrated into other areas of the curriculum where appropriate. We aim to ignite a passion for learning and exploring History as it teaches children to understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today.  We hope to inspire children to understand the world in the past in order to define their own experiences and future.

What History looks like in our school - EYFS - Building the foundations of learning 

At Monkhouse, in  the EYFS we prepare children for the primary history curriculum through four main aspects of Understanding the Past and Present; People are Born, Grow up and Grow old; We Make and Keep Memories; We Remember Special Times and Time Passes. In doing so, we build knowledge, concepts and vocabulary sequentially over time.

We will teach history through a broad, balanced and progressive curriculum. Each year group will use a history knowledge organiser which is specific to the period of history to be taught. The knowledge organiser clearly sets out the legacy and impact on our lives from the period of study, what we will cover, important dates and key vocabulary. We deepen learning, helping children to learn and remember more; through revisiting prior substantive and disciplinary skills at the beginning of each history lesson. 

Enhancing and enriching learning 

Teaching and learning in history  is enriched through the provision of extra curricular activities and trips, visitors and access to historical sources and artefacts; 

Over the course of the year, we offer opportunities for children to work collaboratively on History projects both in school and with our wider collaborative group of schools. We participate in a whole school memorial on Remembrance day. Representatives from our school attend and repesent the school for Holocaust Memorial Day, in collaboration with other schools across North Tyneside. Commemoration of historical anniversaries and key historical figures are marked through whole school assemblies and celebratory days.

At Monkhouse, children are able to handle artefacts through the Tyne & Wear museum, box of delight artefact loan scheme. We go on visits to museums and places of interest, linked to the period of study such as: Beamish Open Air Museum, Vindolanda Roman Fort and the George Stephenson Railway museum. Children have access to a wide variety of secondary sources such as books and photographs.  We also provide opportunities for children to be able to listen to and interact with stories from the past through visitor talks and specialists providing history workshops.

Classroom immersion 

At Monkhouse, we immerse the classrooms into unique learning spaces that bring a multi sensory environment into the classroom, bringing history to life, for example; from George Stephenson and the invention of the railway to the coal mines of the North East. 

In KS1, the history curriculum will provide pupils with the opportunity to learn about the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They will learn how the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They will be taught a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms and learn about key historical figures. In KS2, the history curriculum will provide the opportunity for all pupils to continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They will note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. In doing so, they will explore significant British and World  historical periods and events.

Aspiration and Inspiration

At Monkhouse our school vision for history is that children learn the legacy from the period of study and learn how the past impacts the future. We want to embed a pedagogy of engagement, enquiry, curiosity and investigation to enable pupils to work as young historians as they progress through subject outcomes.