History
In KS1 the children cover a range of historical events and periods to develop their interest in the past and to introduce them to the idea that life has changed both in the recent past eg Toys during Victorian times and more distant past of medieval castles – tapping into their natural curiosity for knights, princesses and castles. Through learning about the Great Fire of Nantwich in 1583 and comparing this to The Great Fire of London 1666 the children begin to understand chronology.
Our History curriculum focuses on enabling children to understand how the past has influenced the present and at KS2 continues to develop a chronological understanding of significant events and people. Our children listen and respond to stories, visit museums and places of interest, watch relevant TV and video material and then use sources of information to ask and answer questions. They also consider how the past was different from the present.
Our KS2 curriculum has been designed to help children to understand the impact that various periods of history have had on their lives today. When studying Early Islam in Year 5 the children are amazed to see how much more developed Bagdad was in the 9th Century (The Golden Age of Islam) compared to London. They marvel at their hospitals and libraries, but also learn about the human mistakes of the past eg the slave trade that formed a key part of the Islamic empire.
Learning how to pose questions; carry out historical enquiry; do field work and develop map reading skills are a central part of our history curriculum. We make the learning relevant for the children by studying Nantwich and the local area, such as the railway in Crewe and the local salt and leather industry. Wherever possible the children are taken out into the learning environment eg Year 1 in their topic home sweet home, study architecture through the ages through a learning walk around the local area to look at different types of houses. Year 2 visit Beeston Castle; Year 4 enjoy an exciting, practical 'Time Trips' Roman day, learning about Roman settlements and artefacts. Their learning is reinforced by making models of a Roman town and lots of artefacts. Y5 study local canal building and the work of Thomas Telford.
Links are made to other areas of the curriculum to aid memory of knowledge and to help children to make sense of their learning. In Y6, for example, the children visit Boreatton PGL as part of their outdoor adventurous PE curriculum. Before they go they learn about the Boreatton area during the war.
