History

Intent: What do we want our children to learn?

Through the teaching of History, we aim to build children’s knowledge and inspire a curiosity about the events and people that have shaped both their local area, Britain and the wider world.

Our History curriculum is:

Knowledge-rich with the knowledge children are to acquire, sequenced as a progression from Early Years to Year 6 through our history ‘Big Ideas’.
Linked, wherever possible, to modern Britain to help pupils know ‘why we are, like we are’. This is most often explored through the Big Idea of Legacy, for example: discovering the Anglo-Saxon origin of Tooting during Year 4’s Invaders & Settlers theme.
Linked to our local context and community so that children develop a clear understanding that history is ‘on the doorstep’ and not a remote notion that happened somewhere else, to other people. For example: learning about the creation and spread of buildings in our area during the Victorian era (‘Brilliant Buildings & Crazy Constructions’ Year 2 theme).

Implementation: What does history look like at Fircroft?

The big Ideas

History knowledge is mapped as a progression from Early Years to Year 6, through the ‘Big Ideas’, which are:

Whole school Big ideas:
Chronology
Change
Significance

Year 1-6 Big ideas:
Empire
Migration
Legacy

KS2 Big ideas:
Defence & Resistance
Invasion
Settlement
Civilisation

History Knowledge Progression

Curriculum map

EYS
Children in Nursery and Reception are introduced to the 3 History Big ideas of Chronology, Change and Significance, within the context of their broader themes, as well as during their ongoing provision.

Year 1–6
Children in Year 1 to Year 6 build their history knowledge through a wider range of Big Ideas.

History Curriculum at a glance

Knowledge sequence

Each history theme in Year 1-6 follows the same sequence to support children to acquire and retain history knowledge. As part of the sequence all children are given a knowledge organiser which can be found at the bottom of this page.

Knowledge Sequence Flowchart

Enriching the history curriculum
Wherever possible, all history themes will include a visit designed to support children to consolidate and extend their knowledge. Our visits include:

	History Theme	Visit
Year 2	Brilliant Buildings & Crazy Constructions	Tower Bridge
Year 3	From the Stone Age to the Iron Age	Butser Ancient Farm, Hampshire
Year 4	What have the Romans ever done for us?	The Guildhall Roman Amphitheatre
Year 5	Ancient Egypt	British Museum
Year 6	From War to Windrush	The Churchill War Rooms

We also make good use of local history provision from the Wandsworth Heritage Service and local historian Geoff Simmons, to run workshops, talks and local history walks with the children.

In July 2022 two Fircroft Pupils, Rohan and Trixie, were winners in the annual Wandsworth Heritage Service Awards and attended a special ceremony at the Town Hall, where they were given medals by the Mayor.

The school have also been active participants in many recent campaigns to secure recognition, in the form of a ‘blue plaque’, for local historical figures.

Blue Plaque Campaign Involvement

Impact: How do we support children to retain their knowledge and check that they have?

Our carefully planned history curriculum with knowledge organised as a progression through the Big Ideas, together with the knowledge sequence of each history theme, is designed to support children’s knowledge acquisition.

We check that children have acquired this knowledge through:

Launching each history theme with a quiz based on relevant prior knowledge.
Starting each history lesson with a knowledge recap.
Finishing each history theme with both a quiz and an ‘express event’ to share and showcase their learning.
Meeting with a selection of children from every class, each half-term to talk about and share their learning.
Looking at evidence in children’s books.