History - Windmill L.E.A.D. Academy

Legal Framework

The Understanding the World: Past and Present section of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) and history sections from the the national curriculum form the roots of Windmill L.E.A.D Academy’s history curriculum. From this national documentation, Windmill L.E.A.D Academy’s history curriculum has been devised, developed and personalised to our school community, having evolved from our values, vision, and mission statement.

Our history curriculum is underpinned by the national curriculum statement for history:

A high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. It should inspire pupils’ curiosity to know more about the past. Teaching should equip pupils to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Intent

At Windmill, we understand that history gives us a sense of identity – set within our social, political, cultural and economic relationships. History is about real people and real events that have shaped the wider world, our society and who we are today. As stated in the National Curriculum; History helps pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.

Learning history equips children with the knowledge and understanding to make sense of, analyse and question the ever changing world around them. It ignites their spark for curiosity, allowing them to steer and drive their own learning and lines of enquiry. We encourage pupils to consider how the past impacts upon the present through the cause and effect of significant events and individuals. As they do this, coupled with the assistance of timelines, children generate a chronological framework for their historical knowledge.

At Windmill, the children use a variety of sources of historical information, including fictional and non-fiction accounts, artefacts, and timelines to adopt an enquiry-based approach to their learning. Through this, they develop a sense of identity and value, and a cultural understanding based on their own and others’ historical heritage.

In our school, history makes a significant contribution to citizenship education by teaching about how Britain developed as a democratic society.

We, at Windmill, endeavour to continue our learners’ history education by:

encouraging children’s natural zeal for curiosity by investigating past events and how they have influenced life today.
developing children’s ability to create links between the historical periods that they are studying, embedding their sense of chronology and allowing them to generate a solid understanding of how the world has been shaped and is continuing to do so.
developing the skills of enquiry, analysis, interpretation, debating and problem-solving.
challenging children to become critical and reflective thinkers not only within their study of history, but also in their everyday life, equipping them with an inquisitive and challenging mind that will ready them for life beyond school.

We aim for all Windmill historians to:

take an interest in the past, and to develop an understanding that enables them to enjoy all that history has to offer;
to develop an appreciation of human achievements and aspirations that have been aided by ambition and resilience.
know about significant events in British history, and to appreciate how things have changed over time and how we have been shaped into such a diverse society;
to develop a good sense of chronology;
to have solid historical understanding and a strong sense of cause and effect;
to have some knowledge and understanding of historical development in the wider world;
to understand society and their place within it, so that they develop a sense of their cultural heritage;
to become reflective and critical thinkers who are courageous in challenging sources in a respectful and ambitious manner;
to develop the skills of enquiry, investigation, analysis, evaluation and presentation, demonstrating both independence and teamwork.
to generate their own lines of historical lines of enquiry, taking ownership of their investigations and learning.

Our history curriculum is divided into five concepts. These concepts are the ‘big ideas’ in history and travel through the curriculum, being built upon, progressively, year upon year as our children move through the school.

The concepts are as follows:

A: Chronological Awareness

B: Knowledge and Understanding

C: Organise, Evaluate and Communicate Information

D: Historical Understanding

E: Historical Enquiry