History
The All Saints’ Way…
History Curriculum Intent...
Discovering God | Learning Together | Achieving Our Best
At All Saints’, we believe that a high-quality history education helps pupils discover God’s unfolding story through a coherent understanding of Britain’s past and the wider world. History inspires curiosity, encouraging children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, and develop sound judgement and perspective.
Our curriculum enables pupils to explore the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies, and the relationships between different groups. In a safe and supportive environment, children learn how history shapes their own identity and helps them understand the challenges of their time.
Through learning about their own heritage and that of others, our pupils develop empathy and appreciation, using the lessons of the past to prepare for their futures.
We learn together following the Kapow Scheme of Work, which meets the statutory aims of the National Curriculum. These aims are woven through five key strands:
- Topic Knowledge
- Chronological Awareness
- Substantive (abstract) Concepts
- Disciplinary Concepts
- Historical Enquiry
By engaging deeply with these strands, children grow into reflective and informed historians who can connect past, present, and future with confidence and insight.
At All Saints’, history education supports every child to achieve their best—developing critical thinking, cultural understanding, and a strong sense of identity grounded in faith and knowledge.
Implementation...
Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to allow all children to become the very best versions of themselves they can be. We teach pupils to investigate past events and, by so doing, develop the skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation and problem solving. We use The National Curriculum as a basis upon which to plan skills and knowledge progression. Wherever possible, we try to bring lessons to life through the use of high quality resources, visits and visitors. Topics are planned to engage, inspire, support and challenge all pupils and equip them with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to help them better understand and appreciate key events and people of the past and their influence on the present and future. Children at All Saints’ are exposed to these important key skills and historical knowledge throughout their primary school career, starting as early as EYFS where children are taught to understand and recognise differences between past and present.
The National Curriculum aims for History 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; characteristic features 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 the methods of historical 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
Impact…
It is our aim that by the end of their time at All Saints’, all of our pupils will have developed an historical inquiring mind and deep cultural respect for others. It is our intention that pupils will have gained a strong understanding of chronology and the historical figures and events that have influenced their own and others’ lives, and can use this to prepare them for their futures.
