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. 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 a subject in its own right, with a specific focus on the skills needed to be a historian, rather than an opportunity to practice other areas of the curriculum.
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 basic stories and tales where we ask questions that prompt them to consider clues in the text and how the characters are feeling. The children have the opportunities to develop these skills throughout their time at King Richard, where in year 2 they will be able to question the facts they are presented with and consider them thoughtfully. With a carefully considered curriculum, the children will build upon skills learned in the previous year, whilst ensuring that the curriculum content remains relevant and challenging.
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.