History at Heston Primary School
History Curriculum Roadmap/hounslow/primary/heston-pri/arenas/websitecontent/web/historyroadmap_20231010124639704.pdf
National Curriculum
The National Curriculum for History aims to ensure that all pupils:
- know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
- know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
- gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
- understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
- understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
- gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts: understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales
History Vision
At Heston Primary School, our History curriculum helps pupils to gain coherent knowledge and understanding of the past. We aim to inspire our pupils’ curiosity to know more about the events, people and lifestyles of the past in Britain and the wider world. Through our teaching structure, we equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. Children are equipped to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
Our History Curriculum
At Heston Primary School, our pupils make progress in History by developing:
- their knowledge about the past (this knowledge is often described as ‘substantive knowledge’)
- their knowledge about how historians investigate the past, and how they construct historical claims, arguments and accounts (often described as ‘disciplinary knowledge’)
Through this, our children are able to develop their historical knowledge and their historical analysis simultaneously, allowing them to build the range, depth and security of their knowledge over time. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced, ensuring all pupils learn new content through meaningful examples and repeated encounters in different contexts. Our children are able to develop their understanding of chronology through a range of historical time periods, both in depth and overview. Studies of each time period are reinforced through references in their future learning. By linking class novels and stories to history units, we enable children to have a true sense of the time period being studied and develop pupils’ knowledge of past places and societies.
As they move through the school, they are able to build a coherent and thorough knowledge of British history. We support children to explore the complexity and diversity of the past, enabling them to contextualise their own experience and identity within the history of their local community, Britain and the world.
A Heston Primary School historian can:
- Construct their own historical accounts
- Carry out historical enquiries
- Discuss role, contribution and importance of different groups of people.
For more information about our History Curriculum, please contact the school office; we will provide you with our subject matrices and knowledge organisers for this area. Other details around our curriculum activities and offer, can be accessed by parents/carers on HestonLink (school's online learning platform).