History
At Mill Hill, we aim to inspire children’s curiosity about the past and help them understand how history shapes our world today. From EYFS onwards, children build key knowledge and vocabulary through ‘Understanding the World’, which lays the foundation for chronological understanding and historical enquiry in Key Stages 1 and 2.
Intent
At Mill Hill we believe that:
- A high quality history education provides the foundation for understanding the influences on shaping the modern world.
- History inspires children, developing their sense of excitement and curiosity about all worldwide current and past events
- History enables children to develop an essential range of skills that are useful across all learning.
Mill Hill uses Kapow’s Primary History scheme of work as a resource through which it aims to inspire pupils to be curious and creative thinkers who develop a complex knowledge of local and national history and the history of the wider world.
We want pupils to develop the confidence to think critically, ask questions, and be able to explain and analyse historical evidence. Through our scheme of work, we aim to build an awareness of significant events and individuals in global, British and local history and recognise how things have changed over time.
History will support children to appreciate the complexity of people’s lives, the diversity of societies and the relationships between different groups. Studying History allows children to appreciate the many reasons why people may behave in the way they do, supporting children to develop empathy for others while providing an opportunity to learn from mankind’s past mistakes.
Mill Hill’s Primary’s History scheme (Kapow) aims to support pupils in building their understanding of chronology in each year group, making connections over periods of time and developing a chronologically-secure knowledge of History. We hope to develop pupils’ understanding of how historians study the past and construct accounts and the skills to carry out their own historical enquiries. In order to prepare pupils for their future learning in History, our scheme aims to introduce them to key substantive concepts including power, invasion, settlement and migration, empire, civilisation, religion, trade, achievements of humankind, society and culture.
Implementation
In order to meet the aims of the National curriculum for History and in response to the Ofsted Research review into History, we have identified the following key strands:
- Substantive concepts.
- Disciplinary concepts.
- Historical enquiry.
- Chronological awareness
Mill Hill’s Primary scheme (Kapow) emphasises the importance of chronological knowledge across all strands to support the development of substantive concepts, historical skills and historical enquiry. These strands are interwoven through all History units to create engaging and enriching learning experiences which allow the children to investigate history as historians do. Each unit of work has a focus on chronology to allow children to explore the place in time of the period they are studying and make comparisons in other parts of the world.
