Here at Thurcroft Junior Academy our scheme of work follows the National Curriculum closely, guaranteeing a seamless progression of learning as the children move through school. It is important to us that the children build a historical narrative as they move through Key Stage 2. We use timelines in our classrooms to document this learning journey – in each classroom you can see which topics have been taught so far by looking at the timeline extensions. This helps the children visualise the chronology of the topics they are learning about. Each lesson is planned as an enquiry giving children the opportunity to develop skills, such as handling and examining evidence, sources and artefacts.

Lessons are structured as enquiries giving children the opportunity to recall and revisit previous learning at the beginning of each lesson before exploring their new learning. We aim to keep the children engaged in their learning by using a wide variety of sources from historical information and books, to videos, artefacts and other historical sources. Many of the activities we plan for children during history lessons usually lend themselves to be completed in pairs or groups, promoting discussion amongst peers. When teaching, we promote discussion with engaging open questions and interesting resources which the children can explore.

History books are used to record learning; we have recently introduced ‘double-page spreads’ which are to be completed at the end of every topic. These are a chance for children to showcase their learning in a unique and creative way. It gives them the chance to revisit and consolidate learning from throughout the topic.

When a period of history is being taught, topic homework sheets will include options linked to history such as to bake Tudor biscuits or to make a fact file about WW2.

Our long term plan for history is as follows: