History

Intent

We aim to help children understand that history is all around us. It’s everything that has ever happened right up to the present day. We want to stimulate children’s curiosity so that they develop their knowledge and skills around the subject. We aim to support children in understanding the chronology of important events in Britain and the rest of the world. We want children to learn about significant people in history, and how and why they changed the world we live in.

We want to provide a foundation of knowledge on the subject, because history will influence children’s decisions, personal choices and attitudes towards different aspects of their lives as they grow up.

By finding out how the world, and also their local community, have developed over time, children can begin to comprehend how the past influences the present. Learning about history also helps children develop their research and analytical skills as they move through their education. They learn how to examine artefacts, they may visit museums, and they learn how to use books and the internet to research about the past.

Anything is possible means children can achieve whatever they want to achieve, and can be whoever they choose to be. We explore this idea by exploring significant people and their occupations. Locally, children learn that history is all around us. We can see it by visiting significant buildings, local museums and parks without even having to step outside of Watford.

History is also worldwide, and we explore world history by covering significant events and people. A key aim is to broaden children’s vocabulary so they understand – and use – historical terms and phrases. This starts from the early years where we introduce words such as ‘yesterday’ and ‘last week’, for example, and continues through to KS1 where we talk about years, decades and centuries.

History isn’t all about castles and dinosaurs, it is everything that has ever happened since the beginning of time! This means it taps into many other subjects. The history of the universe links to science, and exploring rocks and geology tells us the history of our planet. Both fiction and non-fiction books tell us what culture and politics were like during different eras throughout the past.

History Overview