The aim of history teaching here at Thurnby Mead Primary Academy is to stimulate the children’s interest and understanding about the life of people who lived in the past. We teach children a sense of chronology and through this, they develop a sense of identity, and develop their cultural understanding based on their historical heritage. Thus, they learn to value and respect their own and other people’s cultures in modern multi-cultural Britain and, by considering how people lived in the past, they are better able to make their own life choices today. In our school, history makes a significant contribution to citizenship education by teaching them about how Britain developed as a democratic society.
We teach children to understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today. We have developed our history curriculum to incorporate links to our local area as well to enable the children to recognize and understand the world around them and embed their learning of History.
History Overview 2024-25
| Year One |
| Autumn: How am I making History? This topic explores events within the children’s lifetime and makes comparisons between childhood now and in the past.
Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally. BH- Walter Tull- first black Army officer to lead white soldiers. Spring Term: How has Leicester changed since the 1950s?The Story of Leicester’s Shops Changes within living memory. Significant historical events, people, and places in their own locality. Summer Term: How have explorers changed the world? Finding out about events and people beyond living memory. Investigating the lives of significant individuals in the past- Christopher Columbus and Matthew Henson. BH- Matthew Henson- African American Explorer. |
| Year Two |
| Autumn: How was school different in the past? This topic compares schools in the past to the present day.
Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally Spring Term: What is a monarch? Investigating the lives of significant individuals in the past. Compare aspects of life in different periods. William the Conqueror. Summer Term: How did we learn to fly? Finding out about events and people beyond living memory. Events that are nationally or globally significant. Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart and Bessie Coleman. BH- Bessie Coleman – first African American woman to hold a pilot license |
| Year Three |
| Autumn Term: What did the Ancient Egyptians believe? The achievements of the Earliest Civilisations.
Spring Term: Would you prefer to live in the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age? Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Summer Term: Why did the Romans settle in Britain? The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain. The legacy of Roman Culture on later periods in British History. |
| Year Four |
| Autumn Term: How hard was it to invade and settle in Britain? (Anglo Saxons). Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots.
Spring Term: Early Islamic Civilisation: What was the role of Baghdad on early Islamic civilisation? A Non-European society to contrast with British history. BH- Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (Polymath) Summer Term: The topic, ‘How did the achievements of the Ancient Maya impact their society and beyond?’ explores influences from ancient settlements and civilizations. |
| Year Five |
| Autumn Term (Full term): What was the impact of WW2 on the people of Britain? A study of an aspect or theme in British History that extends Pupil’s Chronological knowledge beyond 1066.
Spring Term: What did the Greeks ever do for us? Ancient Greeks- a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world. The legacy of Greek culture on later periods in British History. |
| Year Six |
| Autumn Term: What does the census tell us about our local area? A local history study.
BH- Role of black Victorians – National Archive 1 hour workshop Summer Term: Why is King Richard III significant to Leicester? King Richard III unit. A local history study, A study of an aspect of British History that extends pupil’s chronological knowledge beyond 1066. |
Subject Leader/s
Interim Lead Mrs. Woodhouse
Impact
The children within the Early Year classes are first introduced to the concept of time, focussing on their past and present. By recognising themselves in a picture of them as a baby they are acknowledging that they had a past, now they are different so that is the present. They then expand on this by accepting and commenting on familiar situations from the past identifying similarities and drawing on their experiences. Children learn about the concept of time and vocabulary related to this.
Within our Year One’s History lessons, our children begin to identify that some things have happened before they were born such as family events, including parents and grandparents.
Our children learn about local history within the unit ‘How has Leicester changed since the 1950s?’ and ‘The Story of Leicester’s Shops.’ This is then extended to ‘How have explorers changed the world?’ unit, which enables the children to recognise changes throughout time and their impact on life today.
In Year Two our children expand their knowledge by going further into the past using a timeline and learning about historical events ‘beyond living memory’.
They make comparisons of schools past and present in the unit ‘How was school different in the past?’. Our children explore the role of a monarch throughout British history within the topic ‘What is a Monarch?’
In the unit ‘How did we learn how to fly?’ the children learn to identify achievements and inventions that still influence their own lives today.
By year three the children then learn about the major causes of advancement from Stone to Bronze to Iron and identifying how these impacted globally, nationally, and locally. Then recognising why our interpretations of these time periods is difficult due to limited primary sources or written evidence. They also learn about Roman Britain as well as Ancient Egypt.
These are a few of the varied ways children learn.
Children re-enacting a ceremony.
Year 3 children examining artefacts, roleplaying, and completeing activities whilist role playing on a trip to the New Walk Museum.
Our children in Year four learn History through three topics, ‘How hard was it to invade and settle in Britain?’ (Anglo-Saxons), ‘What was the role of Baghdad on early Islamic civilisation?’ and ‘How did the achievements of the Ancient Maya impact their society and beyond?’.
When exploring each topic, the children will recognize, identify, and understand how developments in the past impact and influence the way we live today.
In Upper Key Stage 2 the children expand their historical knowledge investigating World War II and the Ancient Greeks. They deepen understanding. They begin to compare lifestyles and observe re-enactments that deliver authentic experiences. Within the Ancient Greek topic they study Myths and Legends. Within the World War II topic the children will learn when and why World War II began and find out about the key individuals and countries involved. In addition to this, they will discover what it was like for people on the home front and how they contributed to the war effort.
In Year 6 the children are taught the topics of; What does the census tell us about our local area? A local history study, and Why is King Richard III significant to Leicester? King Richard III unit. For these topics the children will be able to use locally based events and locations. Access to these sources will enable the children to identify relevant evidence in these subjects, use the evidence as the basis for an opinion and begin to make references to evidence as justification of their ideas.
As the DSP contains children with a range of ages and abilities, History is taught using a selection of different topics from across the year groups, which is then differentiated for each child. These are changed yearly as the children mostly remain within the DSP throughout their time at Thurnby Mead Primary Academy, ensuring a varied curriculum.
The topics for the school year 24/25 are:
- ‘How am I making history?’ – Where the children explore the events that have happened within their and their family’s lifetime.
- ‘How have Explorers changed the world?’ – enabling the children to recognise changes throughout time and their impact on life today.
- ‘How was school different in the past?’ – Using comparisons, discussing changes and introducing timelines.
