History

Subject Intent Statement:

At Bowmandale we strive to provide a high-quality history education which will enable pupils to gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world. History is taught through a chronological (KS2) project-based learning approach. We believe History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people's lives, the process of change, and diversity of societies allowing our pupils to develop a sense of their own identity and the challenges of their time.

History lessons at Bowmandale should inspire in children a curiosity, empathy and understanding about the world and its people. We endeavour to develop the children’s understanding of their local history including specific heritage e.g. Wilderspin (founding father of modern schooling), alongside of a more complex and diverse set of people and societies.

At Bowmandale, we begin teaching History to our youngest members in EYFS by asking them about events that have happened during their lifetime and that they will be familiar with; such as birthdays and Christmas. The children will have opportunities to use historical vocabulary and build an understanding of how things have changed by looking at a range of photographs that show people and places from the past.

We move this forward in Key Stage One by looking at historically significant events and people from a time before living memory, but still with a focus on the local area. At this point, we introduce sources like diaries, photos and artefacts, taking opportunities to discover how they can help us learn about the past.

As the children progress into Key Stage Two, we begin to extend our knowledge of historically relevant time periods, events and people in a chronological order. Therefore, we start with projects that happened the furthest back in time and end with projects that are more recent through to the modern era. We also build on our use of sources by comparing more than one source of evidence and looking at how useful that source can be.