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Red Oaks Primary School
Curriculum: History

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How do we teach History at Red Oaks?

'History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.' Robert Penn Warren

As Red Oaks Primary School has an enquiry based curriculum, history is taught in a cross curricular way through a yearly cycle of units which are planned using the skills and knowledge set out in our progression maps. Children learn through an enquiry approach where they ask questions (wonderings) which are answered through their learning. Each year group cover different periods of history which incorporate the teaching and learning of a variety of historical skills which have been broken down into year groups and build upon those skills learnt in previous years. These units cover historical eras in chronological order. Where units are not taught in chronological order, children are made aware of where the historical event or era fits within a timeline of events. Once a year, Red Oaks carries out a study into local history where the children have the opportunity to find out about the place and community in which they live. We also celebrate Black History month at Red Oaks each year.

Our key aims are:
Alongside the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014, we at Red Oaks Primary School aim for the pupils to:
  • Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people's lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
  • Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as 'empire', 'civilisation', 'parliament' and 'peasantry'
  • Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
  • Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
  • Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.
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Schemes of Work


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Red Oaks Primary School, Redhouse Way, North Swindon Learning Campus, Swindon SN25 2AN
Tel: 01793 493920 Email: admin@redoaks.org.uk

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