At St Thomas’s, we believe that a high-quality history education will help pupils to 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.

St Thomas’s aims to ensure that all pupils:

•   develop an understanding of the world around them, which ignites passion to protect and look after the
    world in which they live
•   develop a chronological understanding of British and world history, exploring and making comparisons 
    between a range of historical time periods
•   are competent in applying historical skills
•   are engaged in current topics and can make links between ideas and practical experiences, considering
    how this relates to their lives today
•   develop an understanding what it means to be a historian, exploring future career opportunities in this
    area

Implementation

History is taught weekly during three terms in the academic year. Children experience a cyclical curriculum, returning to key knowledge and skills frequently, allowing prior knowledge to be utilised so pupils can build upon previous foundations and revisit their previous learning with greater complexity each time.

Cross curricular outcomes in history are specifically planned for, with strong links between history and literacy lessons identified, planned for and utilised. The local area is fully utilised to achieve the desired outcomes, with extensive opportunities for learning outside the classroom embedded in practice.

Impact

Our history curriculum equips all pupils with the confidence to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps our pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between relevant groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.