History at Springwell Park

In EYFS, we begin developing our History skills and knowledge in the 'understanding the world' area of development, specifically 'past and present'. This learning is the foundation for our history work when we start KS1. 

At Springwell Park, we study History as a series of connected and contrasting stories of how people and civilisations have changed over time, and how events, innovations and changes in the way people have lived and organised their lives have influenced the modern world.

The disciplinary knowledge which runs throughout our History curriculum enables children to build coherent chronologies of events and describe change over time. It helps children to identify how events and changes have causes, and also consequences. It helps children to examine source material, asking historical questions and using historical vocabulary to describe their thinking.

Our History curriculum works towards specific end points of specific substantive knowledge and a deeper understanding of substantive concepts which are set out in our progression map and medium term planning. Overall, children’s experience of the History curriculum at Springwell Park is designed so that they will

• develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study.
• make connections and contrasts in the knowledge they learn, identifying trends over time, developing their understanding of concepts common to historical study.
• know the ways in which historians investigate change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, and significance.
• know how knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

The substantive knowledge we have chosen to be the focus of our History curriculum is aligned with the structure of the National Curriculum. Further, we have identified key substantive concepts which recur through the different units of study: Invasion, conflict and settlement, Raw materials, Trade, and Social hierarchy. We have ensured that the curriculum is balanced by opportunities to explore local history and historical events which have impacted the way we live in our locality and city today, which helps children see history as something which closely relates to their lives and their environment.

History is taught with typically children studying three blocks or units in a year. The components of the elements which study how Britain developed from Stone Age times to the Anglo-Saxon and Viking settlement is taught chronologically.

Children can talk knowledgably about the periods of time they have studied, about how events and people have brought about change over time and about the legacy of people and civilisations. They examine source materials, investigating historically valid questions as they do so. They make connections between underlying concepts which recur in different periods of study and explain their reasoning using historical vocabulary.

Please view the progression map below for an overview of how history is taught in our Early Years. Please also click the link below to visit our Early Years page.