Vision for History

At Wellfield Junior School we want all of our pupils to have an understanding of the past and how history will shape their future. Our history curriculum aims to deliver programmes of study which fulfil the duties of the National Curriculum but are also purposeful and relevant to all the children at Wellfield Junior School. Our intent is to ensure that the history curriculum is accessible to all and that it will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they know more, remember more and understand more.

History is important as it provides children with the opportunities to empathise with others and argue a point of view, as well as encouraging them to ask critical questions and reach their own conclusions - essential skills that are prized in adult life. Therefore, we aim for a high-quality history curriculum that has been carefully designed and sequenced to equip our children with a secure, coherent knowledge, and that will inspire in pupils a curiosity and fascination about Britain’s past and that of the wider world. By demonstrating the importance of past events in shaping the world of today, it helps them to understand the process of change and the diversity of societies, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time, allowing them to make more sense of the modern world. It allows pupils to explore, question and to understand the past and its impact and provides them with a context from which to understand themselves and others. Interaction and collaborative learning are at the centre of this process to produce citizens ready for a democratic society in which they feel confident and have the skills to participate.

Curriculum content is knowledge and vocabulary rich, in a sequenced chronological order, allowing children to develop their understanding of abstract concepts, such as change, causation or historical significance, as they move through school.

Within our classrooms, we follow rich and ambitious lines of enquiry by answering big questions such as, ‘What is the lasting legacy of the Ancient Greeks?’  We teach children the knowledge they need in small steps to answer these challenging questions successfully. Our history curriculum is rigorously sequenced so that our children’s historical knowledge, understanding and skills build over time. We have thought about key threads that run through the units of learning. These include invasion and settlement, legacy, empire, civilization, monarchy and society. By carefully mapping these themes across the units and revisiting them in different sequences of learning, we ensure children make links and gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, national and international history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Over and above all this, we want our pupils to be passionate about history!

The Platinum Jubilee

To celebrate Queen Elizabeth IIs incredible achievement of reaching 70 years on the throne, we held a history week at Wellfield, which the children greatly enjoyed. We decided to look at the national and global changes the Queen would have witnessed in her 7 decades on the throne, and how daily life had developed over time, making comparisons to the modern day. Each year group studied a different decade, with Year 6 covering the earliest decade from the Queen's coronation. Subsequent year groups followed chronologically. The children were responsible for researching their time period and deciding what they considered the most significant events which they then presented as a display. The week culminated with a joint tea party with the infants where the children could choose to dress up to represent their decade or as a royal guest. The infants were also treated to a timeline tour from the 50s to the 80s, guided by some very knowledgeable tour guides! The weather held (just!) and a great day was had by all.