Intent for History

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, Healthy Futures.

At Norman Pannell, we provide a high-quality history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge about British, local and world history. Curriculum content is knowledge, vocabulary and experience rich, delivered in a sequenced chronological order, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract historical concepts as they move through school. Our history curriculum promotes curiosity and a love for learning about the past.  Through an enquiry-based approach, children are encouraged to ask and explore historically valid questions and report their findings by drawing on skills from across the curriculum. Alongside the development of substantive knowledge, children will develop their disciplinary skills as they learn the fundamental elements of what it is to be a historian.  Children will study a range of cultures and historical perspectives enabling them to be respectful, tolerant and empathetic. Children will leave Norman Pannell being knowledgeable about key people, events and time periods from the past and will weave these together to form informed, overarching historical narratives.

Implementation for History

We do the following in order to deliver our curriculum in History:

• We do not follow a set scheme of work, instead choosing to draw from a range of resources to create series of lessons that are tailor made for the children.

• Teachers are provided with medium term plans with skill progression built in.  These plans also consider key vocabulary and quality assessment. As part of this planning process, teachers need to include the following:

  • A knowledge circle to record ideas and possible enquiry questions.
  • A vocabulary starter for each lesson with at least one recorded in books for each topic.
  • Each cycle of lessons will include a focus on chronology and an opportunity to conduct a historical enquiry.
  • An extended writing task to allow children to communicate understanding and explore a topic. Examples are then added to a whole school display.
  • Trips and visiting experts who will enhance the learning experience;
• Frequency - History is taught in a half termly rotation with Geography.
• History is linked and made relevant to a range of other curriculum areas throughout the school, with all classes exploring chronology, key features and characteristics of a range of time periods outside of set History lessons.
• Each History unit is ended with an assessment task that allows all children to display understanding of historical skill set despite writing ability.  These assessment decisions are then moderated both internally as well as at local authority moderation meetings.

This year we are introducing a new curriculum called 'Opening Worlds' in History.  This will also be introduced in Science, Geography and Religious Education and will be phased into Key Stage 2 (Y3-6) during the next 3 years.  

In 2022-23 the programme will roll out in Year 3 and Year 4 as the curriculum is progressive with each year's learning dependent upon the knowledge, vocabulary and skills acquisition of the previous year/s.

Therefore the Year 6 class in 2026 will be the first to complete the whole curriculum through the 4 years of KS2.

We have introduced Opening Worlds for the following reasons:

• An intricately designed, ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum that promotes high expectations in History.
• Knowledge and skills sequenced coherently so that pupils can confidently build and connect new learning.
• Meaningful connections across the humanities subjects and wider curriculum.
• Consistent and effective teaching methodology based on cognitive science across year groups and subjects that the pupils and teachers are familiar with and benefit from over time and that supports pupils to learn and secure knowledge and skills, long-term. 
• Short and medium-term assessment embedded within the programme so that teachers know if pupils have learnt and remembered the taught curriculum. 
• Evidence-based improvements to pupil progress and success in history.
• High quality resources, particularly promoting aspirational reading and comprehension across the curriculum, and the acquisition of precise subject-specific vocabulary.
• Peer support within the Liverpool Project, providing high quality CPD and learning community for teachers.

Impact of History

At Norman Pannell, we provide high quality assessment tasks that allow all children to demonstrate their historical skills and understanding. At the beginning of every topic, children are encouraged to self-assess their starting point and consider what they know. Throughout their topic, children will be provided with opportunities to prove their knowledge and skills in written, spoken and practical tasks .  Subject and school leaders monitor the impact of our curriculum provision through completing regular monitoring, including pupil voice.  Class teachers also take part in cross-moderation with local schools.