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
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.
Subject Policies/Plans
History policy 2024-25
Progression of Knowledge and Skills
Vocabulary Progression
Parents History Curriculum Information
Subject Leader/s
Mrs Wendy Follows
Mrs Georgina Bhalsod