History
“To be a historian is to discover the facts in context, to discover what things mean, to lay before the reader your reconstruction of time, place, mood, to empathise even when you disagree. You read all the relevant material, you synthesise all the books, you speak to all the people you can, and then you write down what you know about the period. You feel you own it." - Doris Kearns Goodwin (b. 1943, American Historian).
At Ore Village we strive to create curious, skilled and knowledgeable historians. We aim for our historians to have a deep understanding of chronology and how the lives of people in the past were very different to the lives of people of now. We look closely at how successes and failures in history impact our lives today with an aim for our historians to be informed, empathetic and open minded individuals.
We follow the National Curriculum. From EYFS to year 6, our historians delve into our bespoke curriculum of rich topics tailored to our children’s interests and their local area.
The school curriculum is driven by our first order concepts of POWER, EMPIRE and CIVILISATION. First-order concepts not only help children to make sense of their historical period of study, but they also provide a proximal role in helping them to make connections across different periods.
In every year group, each history focused term follows the same theme. ‘Digging up the past’ turns them into archaeologists, using their skills to handle evidence and interpret different sources from the past. ‘Events in History’ allows our children to understand significant historical events and the repercussions of them. Finally, ‘what makes us human’ focuses on significant historical people, how they impact our lives today and how the world would be different had they acted differently.
We have a clear progression of knowledge and skills. Our core knowledge builds on year after year, allowing children to have a sequence of learning that deepens their understanding of each concept. In our mixed year group classrooms, children will practise the appropriate skills for their age group across the two years, where it most compliments the topic of the term. Our facilitating knowledge helps our Historians to make connections across the themes and to promote a strong cultural capital, giving them as many different experiences as possible. Alongside the knowledge, our historians develop their skills from the national curriculum. Throughout all our topics there is a strong focus on high level and mature vocabulary.
We believe our history curriculum is ambitious, requiring children to think deeply about the overarching topic question.