Anston Park Junior School

Historical Knowledge:

Through the teaching of history, which is informed by the National Curriculum, Rising Stars and, where possible, pupil’s interests and the local area, pupils will understand that they are the characters in the narrative of shaping the future. They will be inspired to think of consequences on a greater scale and consider their role both now and in the future.

 Linking to our curriculum drivers, we aim to create a framework of knowledge and understanding into which pupils can place new information. This particularly applies to the chronological understanding of British, local and world history. Pupils should be able to identify trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. This knowledge will allow them to organise their understanding of the past and articulate how one period links to another. It is important, however, that our pupils are not taught about the past as a series of uncontested facts or list of dates that must be memorised. They must have an understanding of history as a construct. They need to know that the story of the past can be told differently and that history is created from the evidence that remains. This evidence then requires judgements about its accuracy and reliability. In turn, this will help pupils understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of society and the relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity of the challenges of their time.

Historical Concepts:

Within history, pupils will develop a deep understanding of key concepts. These concepts have been carefully considered and identified as the core knowledge and skills to provide lenses through which to consider different aspects of history. First order (substantive) concepts help pupils to organise information by creating schemas and sticky webs of information. When teaching, we ensure that both substantive and disciplinary concepts are combined and built upon each year as we recognise that one is meaningless without the other. As a result of our spiral curriculum, key concepts are also revisited across different units and year groups to ensure understanding is fully embedded within the long-term memory. Pupils will also be introduced to subject specific (tier 3) vocabulary.

Substantive Knowledge - also referred to as first-order concepts, relates to abstract concepts which occur frequently throughout studying history. Substantive concepts have specific meanings in different contexts rather than existing as definitions.

Disciplinary Knowledge - also referred to as second-order concepts, relates to learning about how historians study the past and construct accounts through specific examples e.g. how do we know what we know?

Historical Enquiry:

History is a construct. It is not the story of what happened in the past; it is how people have interpreted the fragments of the past that have been left behind. So that our pupils can gain an understanding of what history is, they need to know how historians work. Pupils undertake historical enquiry so that they actually do history. Through this method, pupils are shown how to ask questions, select and evaluate evidence and to make judgments about the past. It also acts as an opportunity to show that there is often more than one side to a story and that history is multi-perspective.