History

National Curriculum

Purpose of study
A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and
understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity
to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions,
think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.
History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change,
the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own
identity and the challenges of their time.

Aims
The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:
? 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.

In Year 1 at St Julie

In Year 1 our history topics look at history over the past 150 years.

How have the lives of children in Britain changed within living memory?

During this topic the children think about how British life has changed over the past 100 years.  They are introduced to our class timeline and begin to use the vocabulary past / then, present / now and future.  We look at different areas of national life such as toys, washday, schools and housing.  We also take a closer look at our school and see how that has changed since it was built in 1966

Why are Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Victoria significant?

During this topic we look at our two longest reigning Monachs and how life in this country developed and changed during their reigns.  We also look at similarities and differences in their childhoos, coronations and reigns.

When did people first learn to fly?

During this topic we look very early flight in hot air balloons and how that developed into flying machines planes that can travel to the other side of the world, and aircrosft that can take us into space.

Rosa Parkes

As part of Black history month Year 1 find out about how one woman made history and began an enormous change in society because she refused to give up her seat on the bus.  This work has links with PSHE learning and encourages the children to think about equality and fairness in other areas of sociey.

Below you will find the knowledge organisiers for the history topics.

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