History

"History teaches everything, including the future". -Lamartine

Intent

At Aston Fields Middle School, we aim to ensure our pupils receive a high-quality history education that will inspire their curiosity to know more about the past. Our curriculum, for all years, has been carefully designed in order to achieve this and much more. Through the study of history, at Aston Fields Middle School, pupils will know more and remember more about Britain’s past and that of the wider world through a combination of overview and in-depth studies. Each topic will deepen pupils’ knowledge of a different type of history including cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history. Our pupils will also be able to do more by developing the ability to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, analyse arguments and develop their own perspective and judgement about the past. Enquiry questions are another vital focal point of the teaching of History at Aston Fields Middle School. Each topic taught centres around specific enquiry questions which provides each lesson with a purpose and ensures pupils remain focused within their learning.

We have thought carefully about how pupils learn and make good progress in History and recognise that developing both substantive and disciplinary knowledge is vitally important. Therefore, within each topic pupils will develop chronological knowledge, learn a wide range of content, use key terminology as a gateway for their learning, use sources of evidence and consider how historians know about the content that has been covered. Pupils will learn that the past should be explained through historical concepts which include:

• Cause and consequence
• Change and continuity
• Similarity and difference
• Significance

Our curriculum, for all year groups, has also been designed to ensure coverage of the national curriculum for history which 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; characteristics 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 methods of 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.

Implementation

Pupils at Aston Fields Middle School receive an hour of timetabled history lessons each week, both in KS2 and KS3. These have been carefully planned to run alongside extracurricular activities that further deepen pupils' understanding and help to spark their curiosity. For more information and the topics taught within each year group, please read the summary provided below.

KS2

Year 5

In Year 5, pupils begin by learning about History as a discipline, to ensure that they are prepared for the rest of their time at the school. They then progress to learn about the Shang Dynasty, Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots and Ancient Greece. This carefully builds on historical knowledge developed at our feeder schools.

Year 6

In Year 6, pupils continue to build their knowledge of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Pupils learn about life in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggles for the Kingdom of England, the Second World War and Victorian England. By learning about these topics pupils develop knowledge and understanding of the earliest history to the very recent. Furthermore, the topics selected builds on the learning completed in Year 5 and prepares pupils for KS3.

KS3

Year 7

In Year 7, pupils develop sound knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past. The topics studied include the Norman Conquest, Angevin Empire, Black Death and the Tudors. Through their learning, pupils learn about important changes that have occurred in Britain, the cause and consequence of major events and the significance of important individuals, especially monarchs.

Year 8

In Year 8, pupils begin to develop a more sophisticated knowledge and understanding of the past. The topics selected require pupils to possess a mature and respectful attitude and help pupils to develop their empathy towards others. Pupils learn about the British Empire, Transatlantic Slave Trade, American Civil Rights and Chartism and Women’s Suffrage. Pupils develop a strong understanding of the links and connections between many of these topics, as well as how their impacts can still be seen in the world we live in today.

Impact

The teaching and learning of history at Aston Fields Middle School enables our pupils to know more, remember more and be able to do more.

Throughout the course of each term, year and key stage, pupils build their historical knowledge of a range of topics. Furthermore, the sequencing of the curriculum means that the understanding pupils have developed is not seen as isolated knowledge, but rather as a range of events and situations which possess links. Consequently, pupils at Aston Fields Middle School, possess the capability to draw contrasts and connections over short and long periods of time.

In addition, pupils regularly recall their knowledge through knowledge quizzes in lessons which influence further teaching and learning. As well as being able to recall their knowledge, pupils are able to deploy it through extended writing tasks. The use of key terminology is very important in history, as is the case with all other subjects. Therefore, pupils build their understanding of key historical terms on a lesson by lesson basis and use it in sophisticated ways, both verbally and in written format.

Pupils at Aston Fields Middle School have the ability to interpret and understand historical sources and interpretations within their given historical context. Pupils are able to think critically about why a source was made, when it was made and why a particular individual may provide a certain viewpoint about the past. This skill allows our pupils to think more carefully about different points of view in the modern world and gives them the ability to form opinions which are backed up with evidence.

Finally, the study of history allows our pupils to make greater sense of the world around them and ensures that they possess the skills to be successful both in the next stage of their education and in life after school.

We hope that you have found this page informative. At Aston Fields Middle School, we encourage independent learning. Should you wish to begin to know more about the history topics we cover, please use this useful website to begin your research. https://www.history.co.uk/