Ambition

Here at Parklands, through Celebration Days, unique trips and visits and a bespoke curriculum, we aim to provide our children with engaging, memorable experiences, whilst building strong historical skills of enquiry  and knowledge. We aim to deliver this within a context that enables our pupils, over their time here at Parklands, to have built a coherent understanding of key historical moments in British and World history, and understand the vast historical legacy that we build upon in these modern times.

Implementation

Our historical content takes the children on a journey from prehistory to modern times, covering:

• Key royal rulers and how they impacted on the lives of people living in those periods
• Key explorers who took journeys into the unknown and how this changed the lives of people in that time and beyond
• Key historic periods in Britain and local area
• How the British Isles were shaped by our Roman and Viking conquerors – battles and resistance, key individuals and what life was like for the Britons and the Celts
• What ancient civilisations looked like, how they were ruled, how they lived and traded; what they achieved and the impact of this on future civilisations
• How the Great Wars (1 & 2) came about, the role of leaders and parliament; impact on life for those at home and abroad; similarities and difference in the wars
• The Sixties in the USA – Vietnam and the Peace Protest – understanding key events that led to the Vietnam War, how this impacted on those living in Vietnam then and now; comparing this to previous learning of World War 1 & 2, exploring opposing viewpoints and recognising cause and consequence.

We seek to build links for our children as they gain knowledge, so that by the end of their time here at Parklands:

• they have an understanding of different models of leadership and government;
• are able to be discerning about historical sources and recognise the impact of partiality within this;
• can recognise similarities and differences across historical periods;
• can ask questions and make judgements based on evidence;
• and ultimately, recognise that modern life has been built on the success and failures of a vast period on human history

Alongside their knowledge curriculum, our children are encouraged to develop their historical enquiry skills year on year. We enable this through our unique skills grid that organises enquiry skills into year groups to ensure that children advance their ability to analyse and interpret history.

Each year progresses on the previous enabling children the opportunity to practise and consolidate a set of skills before progressing them the following year. This enables staff to further support or challenge each child’s learning as necessary to ensure a personalised learning journey.

Impact

Our History curriculum prioritises unique learning experiences in sequence with fun, creative lessons to promote our children developing a love for history and an appreciation for its impact on – and relevance in – modern society. Through a bespoke knowledge and skills based curriculum, we ensure our children approach history through a number of viewpoints.

As a result, we are preparing them with the ability to think outside the box and creatively, whilst understanding the importance of perspective and rationality. Overall, History at Parklands aims to give our children the confidence, skills and enthusiasm to delve deeper into our world’s history as they embark on their learning journey in further education.