History at Hawthorn

History at Hawthorn

At Hawthorn, we believe that History helps develop children’s curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. We intend to develop our children’s understanding of the chronological narrative of both their own local area, the national story and the diverse stories that have influenced our own lives today.

We aim to enable children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. It is important for children to develop a sense of identity through learning about the past and we want them to know how history has shaped their own lives. This is why the local area is fully utilised to achieve the curriculum outcomes.

Understanding of people and places has been appropriately developed to reflect the experiences of the diverse community of our school and to make lessons in history more engaging and pertinent to them.  Our curriculum aims to challenge preconceptions, such as the role of women in history, and to understand the importance of local figures in both national and global history narratives.

Our curriculum teaches children how and why the world has changed as well as what we can learn from the past to make the future a better place. We want to create children with aspirations and the understanding that they can make valuable contributions to their future and their own society.

 

 

History Lessons
 
At Hawthorn, History is taught in unit blocks throughout the year allowing children to make links and to study in depth. The unit is based on an enquiry question, with children securing small steps to help answer this question as they move through the unit. Planning is informed by and aligned with the national curriculum, with teacher units supporting and structuring learning outcomes in order to ensure progression and development within - and across - year groups. Outcomes of work are monitored to ensure that they reflect a sound understanding of the key identified knowledge.

Within the Early Years, children learn to compare and contrast old and new. They are taught to question artefacts and objects and begin to develop timelines within their own living memory.  Key texts are used in the Early years to help the children develop their understanding of past and present.

Key Stage 1 and Early years are taught skills that will support their understanding of changes in history and different historical sources. Timelines are referred to regularly throughout teaching allowing children to develop a narrative of British history and of the wider world, with all units beginning with learning about the chronology of the enquiry question being focussed on. This allows them to understand developments in society and technology, supporting them to reflect on how the changes affected the people living at that time and its impact on their lives today. Further, a focus on local people and events helps children to locate these events within their own local narrative, helping to develop their knowledge beyond living memory.

Key stage 2 is taught chronologically, helping to develop an understanding of what has come before for the children as they move through societies. Teaching chronologically means that at the beginning of each topic, children are able to convey what they know already as well as what they would like to find out.  Each topic is introduced with reference to the chronology of previous topics (including those from previous years) and overlaps between civilisations and time periods.  By the end of year 6, children will have a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day.

Black History Month October 2023
 
We celebrate Black History month every year.
This year we looked at black artists who inspired us and we created our own art work.
 
We have also created a display in the hall which showcases a range of books by black and brown authors. We want to show a range of experiences and share books where the central characters are from a diverse range of backgrounds.  

Remembrance Day

Each year we observe Remembrance day as a whole school. This year we held our assembly on 10th November with our Year 6 children leading the assembly. They shared why Remembrance day is significant and then the whole school observed a 2-minute silence to reflect.