History | King Richard III Infant and Nursery School

History

Our History Progression Map

History Progression Map 2023-24

Key Stage One Long Term Plans

History at King Richard III

Intent, Implementation and Impact

At King Richard III, we understand the importance of history teaching. It is the beginning of the learning of past events, to celebrate the positive and understand the negative. It is in these beginnings that children start to learn the how and why of our history and how, if necessary, some events can be prevented from happening again. It is an opportunity to begin to develop critical thinking, something that will prove to be an important skill in their adult life in a world of an increasing number of false news stories on social media. It is the first opportunity that budding future historians have to start to nurture their own passion and for this reason, we ensure that history is an independent subject with a specific focus on the knowledge and skills needed to be a historian.

We ensure there is a balance between the teaching of knowledge and opportunity for the acquisition of skills for discovering, interpreting and communicating this knowledge for themselves. This begins with our youngest learners in the nursery, with stories and tales where we ask questions that prompt them to consider clues in the text and how the characters are feeling. We encourage them to start to develop an understanding of chronology by considering what is happening now and next in their daily routine. The children develop and build upon these skills throughout their time at King Richard III, so that by the time they are in Year Two they will be able to consider the facts presented to them thoughtfully and construct an informed opinion. With a carefully considered and planned curriculum, the children will build upon skills and knowledge learned in the previous year, whilst ensuring that the curriculum content remains relevant and challenging in the twenty-first century.

We recognise the importance for our children to improve and build strong communication skills and therefore have ensured our curriculum has plenty of opportunity to develop new vocabulary and Oracy mastery.

Many of the children in our school are new to the area and frequently, the country. Considering this, we place an importance on developing their knowledge of the local history of their new community, giving them the opportunity to develop a sense of belonging and ownership of their new area.

We recognise that there are high levels of transient children joining and leaving our school frequently. Due to this, we have shaped our curriculum around ‘golden threads,’ allowing plenty of opportunity for retrieval practice whilst still enabling long term pupils to build upon knowledge and skill. There are three themes that weave throughout our curriculum; Technology, Social Change and Monarchy. Each year, the children revisit this topic through a different lense, reviewing their previous knowledge in a readiness to learn more.

Given our diverse intake, we recognise the importance of presenting the children with an equally diverse history curriculum; it is important that the children recognise themselves in the key figures and events we choose to focus on. Whether it be gender or ethnicity, we want to highlight the importance of everyone's contribution to our world history.