At Hazelwood Academy, the teaching of history follows the Ark Curriculum + approach which is a high quality knowledge-based curriculum. The Ark Curriculum+ approach is centred around four core pillars: historical enquiry, historical knowledge, historical concepts and communicating historical findings. The children will gain a deeper insight into these four pillars each year as the skills are progressive.
A range of history and geography units are taught for each year group across the academic year. These are taught in two-hour sessions.
In EYFS, pupils explore the past within their living memory, discuss characters from past stories and significant individuals in history.
In KS1, pupils develop their understanding of the past beginning with familiar objects and places within living memory before moving beyond living memory.
In Year 2 they move on to understanding the lives of significant people and a more deeper understanding of events beyond living memory.
In KS2, the curriculum is split into two strands:
The first strand is a study of Britain’s past. The units are taught chronologically across KS2 from the Stone Age in Year 3, the Roman invasion in Year 4 and ending with the Battle of Hastings in Year 5.
The second strand is understanding civilisations around the world. These units about world civilizations have been linked to the geographic studies of continents focused on in each year group.
For SEND learners this means:
pre-teaching subject vocabulary to decrease the vocabulary gap.
adapting resources and teaching to provide enhanced opportunities to record and experience learning.