Patterdale History Curriculum

INTENT

At Patterdale:

• Children will leave Patterdale with a curiosity to know more about the past.
• Children will have meaningful progression in history throughout school.
• Through an enquiry-based, cohesive curriculum, children will acquire an understanding of Britain's past and how this relates to the wider world.
• Key vocabulary will be a cornerstone of the history curriculum.
•  History is taught in modules throughout the year.
•  Visitors and visits will be used to bring history to life.
• Children will link their understanding and learning of history to other areas, e.g. the study of the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings links to the broader topic of the diverse ethnicity of people living in and coming to Britain ...which in turn links to other cross-curricular issues such as population migration, multi-ethnic national identity and British Values.

TEACHING MIXED AGE CLASSES

Children are taught in mixed age classes. History topics are planned on a 2 or 4year cycle, to meet the requirements of the national curriculum, revisit core concepts and ensure progression. When teaching a unit, teachers use formative assessment and history progression of skills document to adapt their teaching, to build on solid foundations and fill any learning gaps.

CONTENT

We deliver history through the CUSP curriculum.

CUSP History draws upon several powerful sources of knowledge:

1.   Substantive knowledge - this is the subject knowledge and explicit vocabulary used about the past. Common misconceptions are explicitly revealed as non-examples and positioned against known and accurate content. Misconceptions are challenged carefully and in the context of substantive and disciplinary knowledge. In CUSP History, it is recommended that misconceptions are not introduced too early, as pupils need to construct a mental model in which to position new knowledge.

2.       Disciplinary knowledge – this is the use of that knowledge and how children construct understanding through historical claims, arguments and accounts. We call it ‘Working Historically.’ The features of thinking historically may involve significance, evidence, continuity and change, cause and consequence, historical perspective, and contextual interpretation.

3.        Historical analysis is developed through selecting, organising and integrating knowledge through reasoning and inference making in response to our structured questions and challenges. We call this ‘Thinking historically’.

4.       Substantive concepts, such as tax, invasion and civilisation are taught through explicit vocabulary instruction as well as through the direct content and context of the study.

At Patterdale:

• Each lesson starts with a question.
• Key vocabulary is shared at the start of a lesson.
• Knowledge map is displayed in children’s books for each unit.
• Children use lesson knowledge notes to support their learning.
• Teachers make revisits to previous learning.
• There is also a whole school history timeline in the school hall.

ASSESSMENT & MONITORING

Children are assessed at the end of each lesson based on the lesson question.

CUSP quizzes support ongoing teacher assessment.

CUSP quizzes can also be used at the end of a unit.

Retrieval practice is built into lessons to assess understanding.