Sandlings Primary School

Our  ethos “Sandlings is a unique, nurturing school where everyone belongs and thrives” can be seen throughout our History curriculum and provision.In particular in developing a sense of belonging through the study of local history and world history as well as celebrating uniqueness, through learning about different cultures and societies in the past.

At Sandlings we want children to be successful through learning through real experiences i.e. trips to local historical places, for children to understand their learning i.e. articulating knowledge and applying it when called upon, and be creative in their learning i.e. through dramatizing historical moments and analysing historical evidence.

The characteristics we aim to foster  in our children are:

• An excellent knowledge and understanding of people, events, and contexts from a range of historical periods and of historical concepts and processes.
• The ability to think critically about history and communicate ideas very confidently in styles appropriate to a range of audiences.
• The ability to consistently support, evaluate and challenge their own and others’ views using detailed, appropriate and accurate historical evidence derived from a range of sources.
• The ability to think, reflect, debate, discuss and evaluate the past, formulating and refining questions and lines of enquiry. 
• A passion for history and an enthusiastic engagement in learning, which develops their sense of curiosity about the past and their understanding of how and why people interpret the past in different ways. 
• A respect for historical evidence and the ability to make robust and critical use of it to support their explanations and judgments.
• A desire to embrace challenging activities, including opportunities to undertake high-quality research across a range of history topics.

The 4 thresholds concepts  that drive out History curriculum  are:

1. Investigate and interpret the past -understanding that our understanding of the past comes from an interpretation of the available evidence.
2. Build an overview of world history -an appreciation of the characteristic features of the past and an understanding that life is different for different sections of society.
3. Understand chronology -an understanding of how to chart the passing of time and how some aspects of history studied were happening at similar times in different places.
4. Communicate historically - using historical vocabulary and techniques to convey information about the past.

We teach these through the following  themes:

Egyptians, Romans, Benin, World War II, Stone Age, Anglo Saxons, Guy Fawkes and Florence Nightingale, Great Fire of London, Castles.