Intent:

 

The curriculum has been designed to empower pupils with virtues that enable them to excel academically and spiritually inspiring them to serve humanity selflessly, with an abundance of love, compassion and forgiveness.

 

 

Our curriculum is constructed around our vision to ensure we remain:

 

Faith-inspired: learning from the wisdom of religion

At Primley Wood we aim to foster holistic growth and character development. We focus on nurturing compassionate, responsible human beings who aspire for excellence in all aspects of life. Exploring religious wisdom allows pupils to respect diverse faith traditions and the beliefs of those without faith.

 

Virtues-led: We aim to develop pupils to become compassionate, responsible human beings

This is done through promoting virtues which we believe form the foundation of all goodness and prepares children for lifelong learning. Our curriculum is carefully enriched to allow experiences where our pupils, teachers and parents alike learn to grow through a conscious focus on virtues. Our virtues-led education approach helps to provide guidance to enable pupils to understand their choices in order to help lead better lives. Our pupils become self-reflective and flourish; they are able to build strong, meaningful relationships and understand their responsibilities to the wider world.

 

Aspiring for Excellence: in all that we do.

 

Our pupils and staff alike aim to become the best human beings they can possibly be, in all aspects of spiritual, social, intellectual and physical life. We foster a school culture which inspires optimism and confidence, hope and determination for all to achieve their best possible. This is accomplished through a rich and challenging curriculum, along with excellent teaching to nurture awe and wonder. Pupils gain a breadth and depth of knowledge and a love of learning to achieve their full potential.

 

The curriculum at Primley Wood Primary School has been carefully crafted to be broad, balanced and stimulating, giving every student the opportunity to be knowledgeable, multi-skilled, highly literate, highly numerate, creative, expressive, compassionate and confident people. 

 

Studying History will develop and extend pupils’ knowledge and understanding of specified key events, periods and societies in local, British, and wider world history; and of the wide diversity of human experience. History lessons will seek to engage pupils in historical enquiry, to develop them as independent learners and as critical and reflective thinkers. History will allow pupils to develop the ability to ask relevant questions about the past, to investigate issues critically and to make valid historical claims by using a range of sources in their historical context.

 

History lessons will support pupils in developing an awareness of why people, events and developments have been accorded historical significance and how and why different interpretations have been constructed about them. History will empower pupils to continuously question why the world is the way it is and understand the mistakes that have been made in the past. It will spark a curiosity and help them to see that understanding the past will enable them to shape the future.

 

 

Implementation:

 

The History curriculum has been created to explore enquiry questions, linking the student’s knowledge and learning across the curriculum and across the key stages.

 

At Primley Wood we implement the Kapow History scheme of work. The structure of the curriculum emphasises the importance of historical knowledge being shaped by disciplinary approaches, as shown in the diagram below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These strands are interwoven through all our History units to create engaging and enriching learning experiences which allow the pupils to investigate history as historians do.

 

Each unit has a focus on chronology to allow pupils to explore the place in time of the period they are studying and make comparisons in other parts of the world. Pupils will develop their awareness of the past in Key stage 1 and will know where people and events fit chronologically. This will support pupils in building a ‘mental timeline’ they can refer to throughout their learning in Key stage 2 and identifying connections, contrasts and trends over time. Units are organised around an enquiry-based question and pupils are encouraged to follow the enquiry cycle (Question, Investigate, Interpret, Evaluate and conclude, Communicate) when answering historical questions.

 

Over the course of the scheme, pupils develop their understanding of the following key disciplinary concepts:

 

• Change and continuity.

• Cause and consequence.

• Similarities and differences.

• Historical significance.

• Historical interpretations.

• Sources of evidence.

 

These disciplinary concepts will be encountered in different contexts during the study of local, British and world history. Accordingly, pupils will have varied opportunities to learn how historians use these skills to analyse the past and make judgements. They will confidently develop and use their own historical skill set.

 

Substantive concepts such as power, trade, invasion and settlement, are introduced in Key stage 1, clearly identified in Lower key stage 2 and revisited in Upper key stage 2 allowing knowledge of these key concepts to grow.

 

The scheme follows the spiral curriculum model where previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built upon. For example, pupils progress by developing their knowledge and understanding of substantive and disciplinary concepts by experiencing them in a range of historical contexts and periods.

 

At Primley Wood, we block the delivery of subject content for Art & Design/Design Technology/History/Geography so that we can limit the risk of what is known as cognitive overload - the process where an individual's working memory is overloaded and unable to process new information effectively due to the amount of information it is being required to process. Block teaching allows for all subjects to be taught in equal equity and have quality focused time. It allows us to ensure that no single subject or subjects are given reduced attention and that no subjects are missed from the curriculum. We ensure that there is full coverage of the knowledge and skills required in each block for Art & Design/Design Technology/History/Geography across each year group, as per the Kapow scheme. 

 

It also allows for staff to focus on quality implementation, as the intent of each block is pre-determined. Staff spend time ensuring there is effective building of sequential knowledge, with shorter time periods between adding new knowledge to existing knowledge. We also provide meaningful opportunities to revisit, recap and assess following a teaching sequence. We believe block teaching also allows for staff to address any misconceptions quickly and within a block.  We recognise that cognitive overload could be a key barrier to preventing the full learning of subject content for our pupils. We are aware that if we can limit the amount of new information from different subjects that the pupils must hold in their short-term memory then this will have obvious benefits. This approach is grounded in careful research and neuroscience.

 

Transitions

 

Moving from EYFS to KS1:

Our learning journey starts in the Early Years where children explore the concept of history by reflecting on key experiences from their own past, helping them understand that they each have their own histories. Then, they engage in activities to compare and contrast characters from stories, including historical figures, deepening their understanding of how individual lives fit into broader historical narratives. Whilst allowing pupils to work successfully towards the Development Matters statements and Early Learning Goals, the History elements taught in the EYFS provide a solid foundation of Historical skills, knowledge and enquiry for children to transition successfully onto Key stage 1 History learning.

 

Moving on to KS3:

After exposure to our History curriculum, pupils will leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education. They will be enquiring learners who ask questions and can make suggestions about where to find the evidence to answer the question. They will be critical and analytical thinkers who are able to make informed and balanced judgements based on their knowledge of the past. We make links with our local secondary schools asking teachers to come in and provide History opportunities for our pupils.

 

Enrichment Opportunities:

 

Enrichment goes beyond curriculum requirements for the teaching of history. It will have an impact on a student’s learning by creating memorable experiences both in the classroom and beyond. This involves, educational visits, topical workshops, speakers and history projects.  Our history curriculum aims to give every child the opportunity to feel like an expert within the subject. We believe that pupils learn best when they are engaged and see a true purpose to their learning.

 

Impact:

 

Evidence of work will show a range of questions explored, links across the curriculum and work pitched to support and challenge a range of abilities and starting points. Formative assessment is an integral part of our approach to Teaching and Learning.

 

At Primley Wood, teachers use assessment for learning within lessons to provide live feedback to allow pupils to deepen their understanding and identify gaps in knowledge and skills. Knowledge reviews are planned for spaced retrieval and allow for misconceptions to be addressed and further embed pupils understanding of key knowledge, skills and vocabulary. The progression of skills and knowledge allows teachers to assess the impact over the course of a unit, year and across phases. The scheme of learning is used to identify prior links and future learning which informs teacher assessment and allows building blocks of learning to further develop schemas within topics and across subjects.  

 

Summative assessments are used alongside knowledge organisers to assess the impact of learning at the end of a unit. This in turn informs future teaching adaptations, based on misconceptions and gaps in knowledge and skills. Enquiry questions are used to assess the impact of the teaching of knowledge, skills and vocabulary by allowing pupils to apply their understanding through reflections and critical thinking.