History
The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.
- Theodore Roosevelt
History Curriculum Intent
At Our Lady and St Brendan’s we want all our children to be historians. It is our aim that the history curriculum will nourish our children’s curiosity about the past from their locality to deepen their inquiring minds about their own origin and culture and that of the wider world. The history curriculum broadens children’s horizons, challenges ideas and nurtures tolerance. Throughout their journey as historians at Our Lady and St Brendan's, we want each child to grow into a lifelong learner of history and learn about, and from, their successful Bradford forefathers. The children will be equipped to ask perceptive questions, think critically and develop perspective and judgement. Children will be actively involved and engaged through educational visits, practical experiences and investigation of artefacts to develop their knowledge and skills all the way through school ready for the next stage in their education.
Implementation
Bradford has a rich and fascinating wealth of heritage from Roman remains to Victorian grandeur. With a long industrial heritage, Bradford is proud to have once been the wool capital of the world. Pioneers such as The Bronte family, Sir Titus Salt, JB Priestly, Margaret McMillian (campaigner for free school meals), and Samuel Cunliffe Lister (industrial inventor) were born a short distance from our school. We are fortunate to have links to areas of specific importance and can access these to enhance the children’s learning and inspire them to want to know more. This develops children’s questioning skills as well as their depth of knowledge. Each class have a local history topic and links are made between other periods of history and our local area for example the evidence of the Roman impact our area.
Our History curriculum is taught explicitly in Key Stage 1 and Key stage 2 and history objectives are met in Early Years through an experiential, cross-curricular, immersive approach to ‘Understanding the World’. In addition, where appropriate, meaningful cross curricular links are made with other subjects to strengthen connections and understanding for pupils while exploring historical contexts. By the end of year 6, children will have an understanding of British History from the Stone Age to the present day. They will be able to draw comparisons and make connections between different time periods and their own lives. Interlinked with this are studies of world history, such as the ancient civilisations of Greece and the Egyptians.
Educational visits are carefully selected to develop the children’s real life historical experiences to meet all the curricular skills. On return to school children are inspired to reflect on their first hand experiences to motivate, stimulate and encourage more in depth pieces of work. Children have the opportunity to share their work and celebrate their achievements, making them proud historians. Our history curriculum is regularly reviewed and improved to ensure that every child’s full potential is met.
The National Curriculum is used as the basis from which we plan and deliver the teaching of history at Our Lady and St Brendan's alongside our knowledge of the community and locality which we serve. History is taught in a systematic and progressive way, in which substantive and disciplinary knowledge and skills and vocabulary is clearly mapped out alongside key concepts. Our History long-term plan supports teachers in planning each learning sequence, which states progressive knowledge and skills to ensure history teaching and learning builds progressively year on year. Links are made within and across topics. At the beginning of each new history topic, teachers focus on chronology and create timelines on which the children map dates, periods and events and any significant individuals they have previously learnt about to develop children’s understanding of chronology.
Impact
The impact of History teaching at Our Lady and St Brendan’s is evident through the strong relationships children develop with the subject, fostering a natural curiosity and passion for historical learning. This has been achieved through a specifically designed curriculum crafted by the subject leader in collaboration with the Historical Association and a leading subject-specific consultant. This carefully tailored approach has deepened children’s love for History and enabled them to engage meaningfully with the past.
Each lesson is guided by an enquiry question and theme, encouraging children to think critically and reflect on their learning. At the end of each lesson, children revisit their initial responses to the enquiry question, assessing their progress and understanding. This reflective process culminates at the end of each unit, where teachers review and check off these assessments, providing a clear overview of pupil achievement. The data is then submitted to our online assessment trackers to monitor which pupils are meeting expectations and who may require further support.
olsb substantive knowledge history pdf.pdf
A key driver in ensuring successful learning is the emphasis on memory recall. Research in primary education highlights the importance of long-term memory in securing knowledge and ensuring it can be built upon in subsequent lessons. As Ebbinghaus (1885) outlined in his study on the forgetting curve, "frequent and structured retrieval practices significantly strengthen memory retention over time."
To embed this practice, each lesson begins with carefully sequenced, low-stakes retrieval quizzes. These quizzes revisit content from the previous lesson, the prior unit, and even earlier years, reinforcing prior learning and ensuring knowledge is revisited consistently. This cyclical approach to knowledge not only strengthens recall but also broadens pupils’ understanding, helping them make connections across different historical periods and themes.
The impact of our History curriculum is not solely measured by assessment data but also by the enthusiasm, engagement, and curiosity displayed by our pupils. By fostering a love for the subject and providing structured opportunities for recall and reflection, we ensure that children are not only meeting but exceeding curriculum expectations, making good or better progress across all key stages.
Book looks, analysis of end of unit assessments and learning walks are used by the subject leader to gain an insight of history teaching in practise. In addition to this, the subject leader conducts informal pupil interviews to ensure that history knowledge is being retained. Through this, it is evident that pupils are excited and curious about history. Work is of good quality and demonstrates pupils are acquiring knowledge, skills and vocabulary in an appropriate way. Children remember more, know more and can do more. Pupils have a strong chronological understanding of historical events, are making connections between their influence on the past and develop the ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
As our Year 6 pupils transition to secondary school, we aspire that they will have developed a historical mind of inquiry and a passion for historical learning that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
olsb skills progression history.pdf
Historical Literature Spine - Reading for Productivity
At OLSB, we incorporate a historical literature spine into our history curriculum as part of our commitment to the 3 P’s for Reading: pleasure, purpose, and productivity. Reading is at the heart of our learning journey and underpins the entire curriculum. This approach aligns with the 'productivity' aspect, ensuring that reading is an active tool in broadening children’s understanding of subject content. By engaging with historical texts, pupils gain a richer perspective of the periods they study, fostering critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper connection to the past.
High-quality historical texts are carefully selected to inspire curiosity and provide context, enabling children to experience history beyond facts and dates. Through stories, primary sources, and factual texts, pupils immerse themselves in the lives and experiences of people from different eras. This method not only enriches historical knowledge but also enhances reading fluency and comprehension across the wider curriculum.
According to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), embedding literacy across the curriculum enhances knowledge retention and comprehension, ultimately leading to greater academic success. The EEF highlights that "improving literacy in all subjects can have a significant impact on overall learning and progress." This reinforces the importance of integrating quality historical literature into our history lessons, allowing children to explore the past through engaging narratives and rich textual experiences.
historical literature spine olsb.pdf
Historical Language Progression
Vocabulary plays a crucial role in deepening historical understanding at Our Lady and St Brendan’s. Each history unit introduces specific, subject-rich vocabulary that builds progressively throughout the school, enabling pupils to use aspirational language confidently and accurately. This incremental approach ensures that as children progress, they are consistently expanding their vocabulary, equipping them with the linguistic tools necessary to articulate complex historical concepts and ideas.
Research by Quigley (2020) highlights that "a broad and deep vocabulary is the key to unlocking academic success, as it directly impacts comprehension and the ability to engage with subject material at a higher level." In alignment with this, our curriculum emphasizes the importance of disciplinary literacy – the ability to think, read, and write like a historian. The vocabulary associated with each unit is carefully chosen to reflect the terminology used by historians, reinforcing the notion that pupils are not just learning about history but actively becoming historians themselves.
Teachers are expected to model precise and accurate language appropriate to their class’s age, while also revisiting and reinforcing vocabulary from previous units. This layered approach to vocabulary ensures that spoken language development remains a key driver of achievement. By consistently using and revisiting subject-specific terms, pupils develop a secure and fluent understanding of historical discourse, allowing them to engage confidently in discussions and produce high-quality written work.
vocabulary for each year group prog.pdf