Miss Berry is the subject leader for History throughout school.  

At Morland school, we want our children to understand their place in history and how history can shape the future. History is taught by class teachers using a topic based approach where appropriate.  Through our history teaching we promote a respect and understanding of different cultures and practises and look at how equality and laws have changed over the years. 
Where possible we make links to local history, as well as having whole topics on our local area and how it has changed.  We also look at comparrisons and contratsts within our local area to that of our partner school in Ankoma, Ghana.    At the end of KS2, we aim that all children can question, compare, infer, investigate and show a real curiosity for the subject.

History is well resourced with individual topic boxes accessible for most topic areas. Boxes contain a wide range of materials including artefacts and photographs. Occasionally visitors are invited into school to talk about matters of interest or to share their expertise.  We try and incorporate trips to local archives and places of interest to support historical learning. 

History in the Early Years

In the Early Years Foundation Stage children begin to learn that as they grow up they are increasingly able to do more things for themselves independently. This emerging knowledge and understanding can be used to explore crucial early historical skills.  We also allow children to explore the past through their environment, family history and storybooks.  

For years 1 through to 6, we follow the National Curriculum for History which is outlined below:

Subject content

Key Stage 1

Key stage 1 Pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented. In planning to ensure the progression described above through teaching about the people, events and changes outlined below, teachers are often introducing pupils to historical periods that they will study more fully at key stages 2 and 3.

Pupils should be taught about:

• Changes within living memory. Where appropriate, these should be used to reveal aspects of change in national life
• Events beyond living memory that are significant nationally or globally 
• The lives of significant individuals in the past who have contributed to national and international achievements. Some should be used to compare aspects of life in different periods
• Significant historical events, people and places in their own locality.

Key stage 2:

Pupils should continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.

Pupils should be taught about:

• Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
• The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain.
• Britain’s settlement by Anglo-Saxons and Scots.
• The Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England to the time of Edward the Confessor.
• A local history study
• A study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066
• The achievements of the earliest civilizations – an overview of where and when the first civilizations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China
• Ancient Greece – a study of Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world
• A non-European society that provides contrasts with British history – one study chosen from: early Islamic civilization, including a study of Baghdad c. AD 900; Mayan civilization c. AD 900; Benin (West Africa) c. AD 900-1300.

Purpose of study

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. Aims The national curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narrative, from the earliest times to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this nation and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world
• Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind
• Gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisation’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’
• Understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid questions and create their own structured accounts, including written narratives and analyses
• Understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasting arguments and interpretations of the past have been constructed
• Gain historical perspective by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connections between local, regional, national and international history; between cultural, economic, military, political, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term timescales.

Attainment targets

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.