Early Years

In Early Years the pupils follow the Statutory Educational Programme Understanding the World, which guides children to make sense of both the physical world and their communities. History flows within this. Through studying the past and present, children will:

• Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.

• Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.

• Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1, pupils are learning to ask and answer questions; developing an awareness of the past; an understanding of some key historical vocabulary; beginning to use stories and sources to show their understanding and the ability to place people and events into a chronological framework. In addition, pupils are gaining confidence in making comparisons between events, people and periods, as well as developing their understanding of where we find out information about the past and the different ways it is represented .

In Key Stage 1 children are learning about changes within living memory; globally or nationally significant events beyond living memory; comparing and contrasting significant people who have contributed to national or international achievements and significant events, people or places from the Isle of Wight.

Lower Key Stage 2

In Years 3 and 4 the children are very much still building on the skills covered in Key Stage 1. They are continuing to build a sound awareness of chronology in the context of British, local and world history and an understanding of where people, changes and events fit in time; strengthening and articulating their understanding of historical vocabulary; noting connections, contrasts and trends over time and showing a greater ability to use sources to convey their understanding and knowledge.

In Years 3 and 4 we combine the study of non-British civillisations with a study relating more closely to the development of Britain, as well as a local study.

Upper Key Stage 2

In Years 5 and 6 pupils are continuously developing a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear timelines and narratives of the period being studied. They are reliably using historical language and are increasingly confident in their ability to use sources and evidence in their discussions. They are precising the skill of developing and devising historically valid questions and are able to consider cause, change, similarity, significance and difference in their learning. They are learning to reliably select relevant information to support their learning on the topics and are able to explain the scope and limitations of different pieces of information and sources.

In Years 5 and 6 we combine the study of non-British civilisations with units focused on the development of Britain through invasion and settlement, as well as a thematic study.