Feniscowles Primary School has created a curriculum intent statement.  This intent has been written to provide an overarching context for our school curriculum to allow ‘A Feniscowles Child’ to ‘Live Life in its fullest’.  This document can be found on our website and should be read in conjunction with our subject specific intent statements.

How does History contribute towards our overall curriculum intent?

At Feniscowles Primary School, we see History as an essential component of our Character Education curriculum and integral in developing the 'Feniscowles' Child'.

The study of history at Feniscowles Primary School has been developed with our school motto of ‘Striving for Excellence’ as its guiding principle. The National Curriculum provides schools with a clear program of study for us to follow. 

At Feniscowles Primary School we see this as the starting point for our own individualised curriculum to meet the needs of our learners and to support them in their development as a Feniscowles child. Our curriculum has been carefully shaped to give our children a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world; a knowledge and understanding of the development of Feniscowles and Blackburn with Darwen, celebrating in the local achievements of the past that continue to influence the world today; a chance to develop into agile learners, encouraging their curiosity and pride as well as giving opportunities to enhance their cultural capital.

History at Feniscowles involves engaging pupils in investigating questions about people and events in the past in order to enable them to better understand their lives today and for a future as more informed and enlightened citizens. This is essential for our children to successfully navigate the challenges they may face in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world and for them to seek and maximise the wonderful opportunities available to them.  This is essential for our children to successfully navigate the challenges they may face in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world and for them to seek and maximise the wonderful opportunities available to them.  

Our enquiry approach and high expectations develop their knowledge and understanding of key vocabulary which is revisited and then built on throughout the Key Stages. In this subject, the children will learn and remember more facts and knowledge. They will have the opportunity to excel with that knowledge when following their enquiries. 

Through the study of history, pupils also develop a wide range of critical thinking skills, which enable them to understand the contested nature of knowledge and to distinguish between ‘fact’ and subjectivity when it comes to reaching conclusions and making judgements about the past.  We aim to give our children a positive and aspirational future where they can see a place for talent, skill and endeavour within their home town, making links between achievements in the past and opportunities for their futures.

Across our year-groups, our units have been carefully linked to those of other subjects to enhance children’s immersion and understanding. Within each unit, opportunities to identify the values that define our culture and ethos, shaping The Feniscowles’ Child: endeavour, integrity, respect, diversity, compassion and forgiveness are carefully identified. With this in mind we have established a school curriculum plan for history as an entitlement for all pupils that is: 

• Aspirational in terms of instilling in our pupils a desire to achieve the highest levels of success through providing them with the opportunities to excel in terms of their acquisition of long-lasting knowledge and understanding and mastery of core historical skills.  Such high aspirations are clearly identifiable in the progressive and increasingly challenging objectives of the scheme of work of each enquiry, which define clearly what the pupils will know, understand and be able to do; 

• Logical, and broad and balanced in terms of the areas of subject content we have selected which reflect the guidance and the demands of the National Curriculum.  For example, we have ensured that content includes representative investigations of British history spanning the period from the Stone Age to the Norman invasion of 1066 as well as enquiries focusing on the achievements of ancient civilizations such as the Shang Dynasty and Ancient Greece; 

• Chronologically sequenced as pupils progress through the school which allows them opportunities to evaluate both change and progress from one historical period to another and to build on previous knowledge and understanding as they tackle more complex and demanding enquiries; 

• Relevant in terms of the careful consideration that has been given to the selection of historical enquiries that extend the knowledge and understanding of pupils beyond 1066 e.g. evaluating the significance of the Battle of Britain and the impact of the British Empire; 

• Progressively more challenging Years 1 through 6 both in terms of the complexity of the subject knowledge we want our pupils to acquire and also the critical thinking skills we support them to utilise to ensure they understand the significance of that knowledge.  These anticipated outcomes in knowledge and understanding and skills acquisition are detailed in the objectives of the detailed scheme of work for each enquiry.   

• Built upon and has continuity with the provision for history established in the Early Years Foundation Stage and in particular that which addresses the knowledge and skills expectations of the Past and Present Early Learning Goal; 

• Inclusive in terms of delivering the same curriculum to all of our pupils irrespective of specific learning needs or disabilities and differentiating where necessary through, for example,  in class support, providing different learning environments, alternative learning activities and assessment outcomes. 

As we are writing bespoke units for our history curriculum, you will see that some of the module overviews are not complete.  This includes some of our heritage units.  These will be updated throughout 2021/2022.  For information about the module content, please contact Mrs Jepson, our history leader.