History

History at Claverdon!

We want all children at Claverdon to embrace their role as a global citizen: this means empowering positive change and making a genuine difference to the world. But how can we change the world without the powerful knowledge of our world’s history?

At the heart of every history lesson is powerful knowledge. Our history curriculum has been designed to be both knowledge-rich and coherently sequenced. Knowledge, in the realm of history, means not only substantive knowledge of historical events, dates and people in the past, but also knowledge of substantive concepts in history (such as ‘empire’, ‘monarchy’ and ‘civil war’), and disciplinary historical concepts (such as evidence, causation, significance and interpretation). Our history curriculum allows children to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of local, British and world history. The substantive knowledge taught in the curriculum has been carefully chosen and sequenced using a largely chronological approach.

Knowledge of substantive concepts and disciplinary concepts have been interleaved across our curriculum, allowing children to encounter and apply these in different contexts. From year to year, unit to unit, lesson to lesson, our curriculum supports children in making connections and building upon prior substantive and disciplinary knowledge. For example, the children develop a secure understanding of ‘monarchy’ in Britain. They begin to learn about British monarchs in Year 1, and build upon their knowledge of monarchy in British society throughout the curriculum, looking at the reigns of significant monarchs such as Henry II, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, with a focus on understanding the transition from the autocratic and unlimited power of early monarchs to the limited constitutional role of contemporary British monarchs. Each British history unit allows children to add to their understanding of ‘monarchy’ in Britain, the impact it had on the lives of the British people, and analyse the significance and legacy of each monarch!

Each year, the children will study at least one unit of British history, looking at significant ‘turning points’ that help children understand modern Britain (for example, the sealing of the Magna Carta in 1215, the ‘break with Rome’ during the reign of Henry VIII, the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 and the building of the British Empire). While time is spent developing a solid understanding of the political context of each period (usually first), children will then embark on studying a wide range of contexts in more depth, including the cultural, social and religious context of the time. For example, when the children learn about the Victorians in Year 5, they look at Queen Victoria as a monarch, the British Empire during her reign and legal reforms, before using sources to understand how the political context affected the lives of ordinary Victorian people in Britain. During this unit, as with many of the British history units, we apply our local context, making each unit unique and allowing children to place local stories, of Claverdon and our wider local community, within the grand narrative of British history.

In addition to learning about British and local history, we also learn about the history of the wider world. Some of our units, such as the units on The Early British Empire and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, will look at the influence that Britain had on the wider world, and how the wider world has influenced Britain. All of these units are studied to provide an understanding of the history of the wider world and our place within it. They cover fascinating ancient civilisations, the expansion and dissolutions of empires, and the achievements and atrocities committed by humankind across the ages. Our curriculum aims to ignite children’s love for history, preparing them with essential knowledge for Key Stage 3 and beyond. All history is worth studying, but as we do not have the time to cover everything, the units have been carefully chosen to cover as wide ranging content as possible without compromising depth. From ancient civilisations and prehistoric Britain to the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement; looking at law and power across the ages to the impacts of industrialisation and technological advances; understanding invasion and migration, exploitation and political movements for freedom and equality. Our curriculum aims to introduce the children to a wide variety of men, women and children from the past; from the widely venerated, to the lives of the less well-known who offer us a rich insight into life at the time- from Aristotle to Martin Luther King, from Emmeline Pankhurst to Alan Turning.

We are extremely proud of the ambitious and powerful knowledge our children gain as they progress through our history curriculum. We truly want to create curious and knowledgeable young people, who hold a deep understanding and appreciation of the discipline of history, and are able to sift and weigh evidence to begin to formulate their own viewpoints and perspectives of the world. Ultimately, we want all children at Claverdon to learn the best of what has been thought and said throughout history… and by gaining that powerful knowledge, our children will have a deeper understanding of the world they live in and, therefore, have the knowledge they need to embrace their role as a global citizen and empower positive change.

History Curriculum Map

History Curriculum Overview

Our History Knowledge Organisers