Intent

Campton Academy is a small village school located in the county of Bedfordshire. Whilst some of the children who attend our school are from Campton or the surrounding area, a large proportion of our cohort are from military families based at Chicksands. The mobility with the military families is high and the children frequently change schools. Within the local area and within the military families there is a strong feeling of pride and connection to the monarchy.  There is a lack of cultural diversity surrounding our children and general attitudes are shaped by the assumption that this is normal in all of the UK. The history curriculum at Campton aims to address these issues and give the children the powerful cultural capital they need to understand the world in which they are growing up. Therefore we intend to give our children;

• A strong understanding of history in the UK and around the world.
• A deeper understanding of key leaders and the effect they have.
• An understanding of Great Britain as an Empire and the cultural diversity that this has brought.
• An ability to question social injustice and inequalities.

At Campton Academy our aim is to encourage pupils to develop an appreciation and understanding of the past by evaluating a range of primary and secondary resources.  They will develop the ability to explain clearly how these sources give us an insight about how people around the world used to live and how interpretations may differ.

To ensure that pupils develop a secure knowledge, our History curriculum is organised into a progression model where skills and knowledge are revisited that enables pupils to build on prior knowledge. The main theme that is threaded through our history curriculum is leadership.

Implementation

The children will follow a clear and comprehensive program of study that is in line with the National Curriculum.

There will be a clear progression of key knowledge and skills that the children have learned. Each topic has been carefully planned to develop and extend children’s knowledge and understanding. Teachers will have a strong understanding of what has been taught in the previous year and the expectations for the next.

To ensure substantive knowledge- scope, coherence, breadth, rigour and sequencing of events is achieved, disciplinary or second order concepts are closely interwoven in planning. These include; continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, significance, reasoning and handling evidence.

History is often delivered as part of a topic in the year groups (mainly in Years 2, 3 and 4) and natural cross curriculum links will be made in other subject areas. This is applied when there are clear links to deepen and strengthen children’s learning and knowledge. Strong links to the topic in English will enable the use of high quality texts to inspire the children’s writing.

We will ensure that our children will learn additional skills, knowledge and understanding through their questions and natural curiosity about historical events. Whenever possible we will utilise the local area and the community as well as provide day and residential trips. 

The children’s books will show differentiation, supporting children with SEND and challenging Gifted and Talented. History work is often magnificently displayed on boards in the classroom which will both inspire and challenge the children’s interest. We often display history work collectively in our hall (for example Black history month) so that the children’s work can be shared and celebrated.  

Impact

The children will be passionate about history and have a secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods studied. They will have the ability to think critically about history and use evidence to support their explanations and judgements. As well as have the ability to support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ view using evidence derived from a range of sources.

The majority of children will achieve age related expectations in History and clear progress will be evident in both topic and English books.