"Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you."  

Psalm 78:2-7

OCTOBER 2024- WE ARE REFINING OUR HISTORY CURRICULUM TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE BESPOKE TO OUR SCHOOL COMMUNITY AND LOCAL AREA. WE ARE BEING SUPPORTED IN MAKING THESE EXCITING CHANGES BY STEVEN KENYON, THE LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL HISTORY CONSULTANT. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS THE REASONS BEHIND THE IMPROVEMENTS, PLEASE SPEAK TO OUR HISTORY LEAD, MRS MCGOWAN. 

Intent

The intent of our history curriculum at St Antony’s is to inspire and excite our children to learn about the past and current events, both in Britain and the wider world. We want them to be engaged critically, creatively and empathetically with the beliefs, struggles and achievements of societies, events and cultures. We strive to develop our children’s awareness of chronology and connections between people over time. Throughout our teaching, children learn the skills of historical enquiry, and understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources. They should be able to describe and explain based on synthesised narratives, imaginative reconstruction and arguments based on evidence. We expect our children to recognise that history, whilst being a record of what happened and why, may be open to interpretation. As our children progress through each Key Stage, we want them to acquire coherent knowledge, and be amazed by significant people and events, thrilled by the excitement of exploration and invention, saddened by conflicts and uplifted by triumphs.

Implementation

History is taught based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the skills and knowledge to be taught in each key stage. At St. Antony’s History is taught once a term and so, over the year, there are three units from Year 1-6.

Teachers identify the key knowledge and skills for each topic and consideration is given to ensure progression across topics throughout key stage year groups so that prior knowledge is built upon across school.

Equality 

All pupils at St. Antony’s will be protected against discrimination according to the protected characteristics of the Equality Act. We aim to serve our community, as our pupils deserve the best learning St Antony’s promotes and delivers inclusive classroom practices where children, with and without learning differences, learn together. Our classrooms are welcoming and support the diverse needs of all, recognising pupils within the same class will not all have the same starting points. We provide opportunities for children to work together, understand and value different points of view, think critically, and be successful learners.

We use a range of strategies to adapt learning to meet the needs of our children. Some of which are:

• Explicit instruction

• Scaffolding

• Cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies

• Flexible grouping

• Use of technology

We are committed to creating a school in which the teaching and learning, achievements, attitudes and well-being of every pupil are valued.

Enrichment and Mastery

We give our pupils the opportunity to demonstrate mastery in a variety of ways. Educational visits are strongly encouraged and are planned carefully to maximising the learning potential. This is particularly important for making real life connections, especially when studying our local area. Children showing extensive aptitude or interest in history will be chosen to become subject ambassadors. They will be selected for appropriate enrichment throughout the year.  

Impact

It is our aim that the History curriculum at St. Antony’s equips children with key knowledge and skills, as set out in the National Curriculum, but also with a sense of awareness of themselves as people within a wide world and the impact that they, as people, can have upon the world in which they live.

Here are our History Ambassadors
 

Our History Ambassadors play an important role in our school! They work hard to plan and prepare engaging activities which are delivered throughout the year, they participate in whole-school assemblies to remember historically significant events, such as Remembrance Day, and they support the delivery of special History lessons throughout the year across school! Our History Ambassadors show great interest and have a good understanding of history, how to think like a Historian and the impact historical events have on us today.

"History helps me to understand the world we live in."