Intent
At St Sebastian’s the intent of our history curriculum is to provide a knowledge-based framework enriched with the essential skills of historical enquiry, interpretation, and chronology, catering to the diverse needs of all learners. Central to our approach is the emphasis on retrieval and retention of knowledge, with vocabulary acquisition forming the core foundation. Through looking at history with a thematic lens, for example cause and consequence and exploration and invention, students are able to draw connections and recognise historical changes throughout different periods of history. This fosters curiosity and a deeper understanding of the past, therefore equipping the children with the ability to use history as a tool to comprehend the world and society today, while also drawing connections to British and world values.

The school adopts trauma and attachment-informed practices to create a safe and supportive environment for all pupils. Inclusivity is at the heart of teaching strategies, ensuring that every child's individual needs are met. Adaptive teaching strategies are employed to cater to diverse learning styles and abilities, allowing all pupils to access and progress in history.

As an inclusive school, our curriculum is designed to offer an engaging, relevant, and stimulating learning experience for all, covering a wide range of topics aligned with the History National Curriculum. From exploring the Pre-historic Era to delving into events post-1066 and those shaping the contemporary landscape, students are exposed to a comprehensive historical journey. By the culmination of Key Stage 2, our pupils possess a well-defined, chronological awareness of past events and can confidently articulate the significance of history in their own lives.

Implementation
The teaching of history equips pupils to ask perceptive questions, to think critically and develop perspective and judgement. Our curriculum is a knowledge based curriculum that allows the children to use the skills above to make deeper connections with their learning and think like historians. Throughout their time in primary school, pupils build a clear chronological framework of the development of societies from ancient to modern times by making links across the different study units, as well as making modern links to themselves. They are given opportunities to investigate local history as well as learning about and interpreting the past using a range of primary sources. Every child is from KS1 to KS2 is given the chance to use their skills as a historian through carrying out source enquires prior to their learning and throughout the topic. To further enhance this, topics have been carefully selected to support the teaching of chronology, so children are learning sequentially- this is supported by all children having access to timelines at the beginning of each topic to see where their current study of history has derived from and what the rest of the world looked like at this time.

Through our creative history curriculum, pupils have excellent opportunities to develop their historical knowledge through creative and engaging teaching and learning experiences, including visits and workshops. They do this through exploring and understanding important aspects of local, national and world history and the key events and chronology of cultures other than their own to enhance learning.

History at St Sebastian’s is delivered in the first half of each term. We intend for our children to be able to apply their historical knowledge across all the curriculum and within their daily lives, making cross-curricular connections to other subjects, primarily maths and English. By implementing a high-quality history curriculum, we strive to inspire pupils’ understanding of people’s lives, change, diversity and relationships between different groups. This also looks at how diverse their local history is, which adds meaning to the world around them and connects their history to the rest of the world. Our curriculum also outlines key concepts for the children to consider throughout their learning, providing a lens for them to look at different aspects history.

Impact
We believe our children will:

• Gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world
• Think critically to understand how society has changed over time
• Develop perspective and judgements about historical events
• Enquire historically using evidence to support their claims
• Be able to place historical events on a timeline
• Compare their lives, to those who come before us
• Have an appreciation and understanding about different countries and cultures history
• Be able to retain their learning and form their own judgements based on the knowledge they have