History can’t just be taught, it has to be discovered and experienced!

Hi I’m Mrs Dabengwa, the History coordinator at Gorringe Park. 

From a young age, I have always enjoyed hearing fascinating stories about people in the past. Now as a teacher, I have the pleasure of revisiting it all over again with curious young minds. 
 
Through our diverse program of study at Gorringe Park, we aim to inspire children to not only to have the key knowledge of people, events and key dates but also to compare and contrast different periods and understand the patterns and trends that have emerged over time. My favourite part of teaching history is building on children’s enquiry through various primary and secondary sources. Children will often ask thought-provoking questions about how people lived in the past and the resources they used. History is a bit of a mystery – it’s like completing a huge puzzle!
 
Intent 
The intent of our History curriculum is for children to have a coherent knowledge of British history and of the wider world. We want children to ask historically valid questions about things that happened in the past. Be able to compare different periods and civilisations and find similarities and differences. We also want children to experience a diverse curriculum that reflects different cultures. 
 
Implementation 
 
Our curriculum includes lessons that are engaging and interactive.
 
All learning starts by revisiting prior knowledge. This is scaffolded to support children to recall previous learning and make connections. Staff model explicitly the subject-specific vocabulary, knowledge and skills relevant to the learning to allow them to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts. 

Learning is supported through the use of knowledge organisers that provide children with scaffolding that supports them to retain new facts and vocabulary in their long-term memory.   

Our lessons have cross curriculum links.  You can take the history out of the subject, but you can’t take the subject out of history! There is no subject that can’t be linked to history in some form. There are many opportunities to combine history and science or history and P.E, allowing even the most resistant historians to see another side of this subject.
 
Impact 
Through our implementation, we want children to leave our school with the relevant foundational knowledge their secondary education can build upon. They will have the skills and tools to answer their questions about history using both modern and past sources of information. Children will develop a love for history that will stay with them long after they have left our school.