Willow Bank Junior School – Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Intent

At Willow Bank Junior school, we are historians!

Our approach is designed to inspire pupils' curiosity and to develop their knowledge and understanding of Britain's past and that of the wider world.

We aim to provide them with the knowledge and skills to be able to compare historical events, use historical evidence to build a picture of the past and to be confident to be able to pose questions and challenge accounts of events. 

Implementation

Our History curriculum is planned in line with the knowledge and skills outlined in the National Curriculum for KS2.

To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge that they can build on, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model that outlines the skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be taught in a sequentially coherent way. History is delivered through subject specific teaching and is taught on an alternate week basis. Key questions are used as a ‘hook’ in to the learning for each unit. Meaningful cross-curricular links are made with other subjects to strengthen connections and understanding for pupils while exploring historical contexts. Texts used in our English curriculum and reading spine are chosen to link with our History units. This allows children to research, explore and implement historical vocabulary, knowledge and skills.

By delivering our History Curriculum in this way, we develop the following knowledge, skills and understanding:

• Chronological Knowledge and Understanding of Periods
• Significance of Events and People
• Continuity and Change Across and Between Periods
• Cause and Consequence
• Similarities and Differences
• Methods of Historical Enquiry
• Progression in Organisation and Communication of History
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Trips, Visits and Artefacts

We supplement the children’s learning in the classroom with visits to Ufton Court, Hampton Court, The Houses of Parliament and Reading Museum. 

We invite Ufton Court in to hold Egyptian Day and Roman Day.

We also have a range of artefacts for the children to explore to support their learning as well as joining in as a whole school with celebrations such as the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Census Day and burying our own time capsule in recognition of the school being 50 years old.

Impact

At Willow Bank Junior School, our pupils leave us as independent thinkers, who are excited and inspired by the past and understand that their decisions and actions play a part in shaping the future Our curriculum enables children to develop a chronological understanding of British history from the Stone Age to the present day. They will have had opportunities to draw comparisons with the achievements of the earliest civilizations; to study the non-European societies of Mayan civilization and Ancient Egypt; and to explore the influence of Ancient Greece on the wider world. Children will have an understanding and perspective about our locality and some of the challenges and achievements that have shaped the local area in which we live.

We measure the impact of our History curriculum through monitoring work, listening to the children’s attitudes about history through pupil voice, by taking learning walks/ book looks and half- termly data analysis.

We currently teach the following topics:

Year 3

• Stone Age to Iron Age
• Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Greeks

Year 4

• Romans In Britain
• Anglo Saxons and Scots
• The Mayans

Year 5

• Vikings
• The Tudors – Changing power of monarchs and explorers
• The Victorians

Year 6

• The World at War
• Life on the Homefront during WW2
• Governance – How This Has Changed Through History