History
At Bridgeway Federation, we aim to deliver a high-quality history curriculum that enables pupils to develop a secure understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Through engaging and meaningful learning experiences, we inspire curiosity and a love of discovering how the past has shaped the world we live in today. Our teaching encourages pupils to ask thoughtful questions, think critically, weigh evidence and develop their own informed judgements. By exploring the complexity of people’s lives, the diversity of societies and the processes of change over time, history helps our pupils to understand their own identity and the challenges and opportunities of the world around them.
In Key Stage 1, our history curriculum helps pupils to develop an early understanding of the past and how it links to their own lives. Children learn to use simple language related to time, such as before, after, past and present, and begin to place people and events they study in chronological order. Through stories, artefacts and other sources, pupils explore similarities and differences between life today and life in the past. They are encouraged to ask and answer questions, using historical vocabulary to talk about what they have learned. Pupils also begin to understand how we find out about the past and recognise that history can be represented in different ways.
In Key Stage 2, pupils build upon their earlier learning to develop a secure and chronological understanding of British, local and world history. They explore clear historical narratives across the periods they study, making connections and identifying contrasts and patterns over time. Pupils are encouraged to use and apply accurate historical vocabulary as they investigate the past. Through carefully planned lessons, they ask and, at times, create thoughtful historical questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. Children learn to select, organise and present historical information to form informed responses, while developing an understanding of how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.