Our History Subject Leader

Mrs Gray

Intent

History is all around us — in our families, communities, and the wider world. Through our history curriculum, we want children to achieve well and understand their place in a world enriched by the past. We aim to spark curiosity, celebrate diverse backgrounds, and help pupils understand how and why people interpret history in different ways.

 

We aim to offer a high-quality history education that will help pupils develop a passion for learning about history and gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.

Implementation

Our History curriculum has been designed in partnership with history specialists within our trust. It ensures clear progression in both the acquisition of knowledge and the development of key skills, building on pupils’ prior learning.

Each unit of work identifies foundational knowledge ‘end points’ and is carefully sequenced to help pupils know more and remember more as they move through primary school and transition into KS3.

The curriculum fully covers the National Curriculum and is underpinned by the building blocks of History (Threshold Concepts), which are emphasised and reinforced across our schools from KS1 to KS5:

Developing chronological understanding

Communicating History

Investigating the Past

Thinking like a Historian

Each unit has a clear rationale, includes key topic vocabulary, builds on prior learning, and defines the foundational knowledge and skills pupils will acquire.

Key threads run through the curriculum to help children build deep knowledge and make meaningful comparisons and evaluations across different time periods, events, and significant individuals. The threads commonly woven through the Key Stage One units include locality, transport, and significant people. In Key Stage Two, recurring themes include religion and beliefs, housing, empire and rules, and the roles of women, men, and children.

These threads help pupils make meaningful connections across time and place, supporting deeper understanding and enabling comparisons between different historical contexts.

Topics and units lay out sequential components of learning which equates to 8-10 hours of teaching.

Key Stage 1

Key Stage 2

 

Lesson Pedagogy 

Lessons follow our consistent pedagogical approach. 

  • Retrieval - The lesson begins with a retrieval task. This may involve retrieving knowledge from the previous topic, previous term or a previous year group. Where possible, retrieval tasks are linked to the content of the lesson that is about to follow. 
  • Recall - This involves recalling knowledge from the previous lesson. This may be recorded in books when deemed appropriate buy the teacher or it may be an oracy based activity. 
  • New Learning - New learning is introduced, the learning objectives and foundational knowledge/skills are shared and vocabulary is discussed. The enquiry question for the lesson is shared and briefly discussed. 
  • I Do - The teacher will share new knowledge and learning - this may be through the sharing of sources, sharing core knowledge, watching videos, exploring images, or reading extracts. 
  • We Do - Pupils may complete as task as a group, or discuss. 
  • You Do - Pupils complete an independent task. 
  • Reflection - Pupils reflect on the core learning from the lesson and the opportunities are given to answer the enquiry question. This part of the lesson may include a group discussion, a debate, or opportunities to make connections to our Character Virtues, Protected Characteristics, Catholic Social Teachings or British Values. 

Local Context of School

Our local context is extremely important to us.

In KS1, we learn about our local context through:

  • George Stephenson and the railways
  • Our local mining history and life of Norman Cornish
  • Achievements of Captain Cook

In KS2, we learn about our local context through:

  • The Home Front / World War 2
  • Roman Empire
  • Anglo Saxons 

Curriculum Sequence

We are a mixed year group school, and therefore we have chosen to sequence the curriculum over a two year rolling cycle. Each topic includes a knowledge retention/recap element so that we are constantly building and revisiting prior learning.

 

Impact

  • When pupils leave our school, pupil will know more, remember more and understand more about History
  • They will have developed a secure knowledge and understanding of people, events and contexts from the historical periods covered and developed the ability to think and write like a historian.
  • They will have the firm foundations in History and are well placed to make good progress at Key Stage 3.

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History Careers at St. Joseph's

At St Joseph’s, we encourage our children to dream big and explore the stories of the past to understand the world today. Through our History curriculum, pupils discover how their learning links to a wide range of careers — from archaeology and museum work to research, law, politics, journalism and teaching. By developing critical thinking, investigative skills, and an appreciation for human experiences across time, our children gain the confidence and curiosity to take opportunities and use their talents to make a positive impact in the world.