History

In KS1 and KS2, history is taught as a discrete subject in alternate half terms (Autumn 1, Spring 1 and Summer 1).

Within our history ‘Units of Work’, composite tasks have been broken down into smaller component tasks to ensure a structured and progressive learning experience, where children are provided with opportunities to develop both their substantive knowledge and disciplinary knowledge alike within each unit.

To support the deepening of this knowledge and widening of pupils’ schema, children use knowledge organisers to support them in recalling and retaining key information and additionally attend trips/participate in workshops linked to their history unit of work for that term. We also draw on our local library service so that our children have access to real-life historical artefacts and books, for the unit being studied, in their classrooms daily.

At Sir William Burrough, history is taught as a blocked subject. This means that the history unit for that half term is taught every day for one week in the half term; this learning is then revisited and revised through retrieval practice factored into our weekly timetable, allowing our children to benefit from the advantages of spaced learning and interleaving. We believe that blocking subjects provides children with the opportunity to become immersed into a topic, and develop deep learning in the subject discipline: more time is spent learning and applying knowledge than transitioning between different subjects within the school day.