Intent
At St Mawes Primary we aim to establish, develop and nurture in the children a love for learning about history. We do this through our motivating and varied curriculum, which covers local, national and international topics.
History helps us to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as our own identity and the challenges of our time.
Developing a sense of chronology is important to us, and through this the children are able to increase their understanding of how the world has changed over time. Examples of history projects which have thoroughly engaged the children include: Who Am I? in KS1 and the Tudors in KS2, a topic that links with our local environment and means a visit to St Mawes castle.
Implementation
Attention is given to ensuring that children understand how events in the past have influenced our lives today. We also feel that developing children’s skills of enquiry is important so that they are able to ask not just what happened in history, but also to ask and discover why.
Local history is prioritised so that pupils can understand the village, locale and Cornwall. This helps them ground there understanding and enables comparison with other times and cultures. Regular trips to significant places are arranged to help bring the study to life. Cornwall has many special places, especially from the pre-historic period and these are shared with pupils.
We aim to help our children gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world, inspiring their curiosity to know more about the past. We equip the children to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement.
Impact
As a result of this, in History they will:
- Increase and develop their historical skills, concepts, knowledge and attitudes.
- Increase their understanding of the present in the context of the past.
- Develop and use their skills in enquiry, analysis, evaluation, and argument.
- Develop their interest in the past, arousing their curiosity and motivation to learn.
- Develop a sense of identity through learning about the past.
