Dovedale Primary School
History
Intent
Dovedale’s History Curriculum opens doors to the past so pupils can better understand the present and shape the future.
At Dovedale Primary School, we aim to provide inspiring and engaging lessons which bring History to life for our children, enabling them to think like ‘Historians’. We are committed to developing our children’s passion for History through providing enriched learning opportunities which include educational visits and visitors to Dovedale. We equip our pupils, including those with SEND and vulnerable children, to have a secure understanding of when key events took place and aim to ignite their curiosity about the past. Alongside historical knowledge and understanding, there is a high focus on specific historical skills. The teaching of History at Dovedale is intended to equip our pupils to ask pertinent questions about the past, analyse evidence, think critically, appreciate different perspectives and develop informed judgements. This will enable pupils to have transferable skills across other subjects. Our pupils are taught to understand how Britain has influenced and has been influenced by the wider world. In addition, our curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to explore their own identity through local history topics. Our History curriculum is intended to help pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups.
Implementation
Our dynamic History curriculum brings the past to life, linking global civilisations, local Liverpool heritage, and inspiring figures like George Harrison and John Lennon, to help children build strong knowledge, meaningful connections, and a sense of identity through time.
Our History curriculum covers the knowledge and skills outlined in the National Curriculum through broad, challenging and inspiring topics. Meaningful cross-curricular links are made where these enhance pupils’ historical understanding. Each history unit is structured around a carefully chosen historical enquiry question. These questions provide a clear purpose for learning and enable pupils to investigate the past through historical evidence, developing their knowledge and disciplinary understanding as they work towards an informed response. Enquiry questions are sequences across the curriculum to support progression in historical thinking, including chronology, cause and consequence, change and continuity, similarity and difference, significance and the interpretation of evidence.
Key Stage 1: Topics taught at KS1 include changes within living memory, events beyond living memory and a focus on the lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. In addition, we focus on significant historical events, people and places in our own locality of Liverpool. Through these studies, pupils begin to develop chronological understanding, use historical evidence and explore similarity, difference, change and significance.
Key Stage 2: Topics taught in Key Stage 2 are carefully sequenced to support pupils’ chronological understanding, enabling them to draw upon prior learning and make connections between different periods of history.
The National Curriculum highlights the importance of local history for developing a sense of place and identity. A bespoke and unique local History Curriculum Map has been written by staff at Dovedale Primary School and is taught within EYFS, KS1 and KS2. We reflect upon our own past as a school and highlight significant people who attended Dovedale Primary School such as George Harrison and John Lennon of The Beatles. We highlight and celebrate the achievements of our city and region while at the same time allow children to reflect upon Liverpool’s involvement in the slave trade.
Impact
Our History curriculum enables pupils to build secure knowledge and develop as young historians, progressively strengthening their ability to question, investigate, interpret and make meaningful connections across the past.
Through our History curriculum, pupils will develop secure and increasingly connected historical knowledge and an understanding of chronology. They will become increasingly confident in using the disciplinary skills of a historian, including questioning, interpreting evidence, considering different perspectives, making comparisons and reaching informed conclusions. Pupils will be able to draw upon prior learning to make connections within and across historical periods and use increasingly sophisticated historical vocabulary. The impact of the curriculum is evaluated through pupils’ work, assessment, pupil voice and curriculum monitoring to ensure that all pupils, including those with SEND, know more, remember more and can increasingly think and communicate like historians.