At Bill Quay Primary School, the teaching of history aims to develop thoughtful, inquisitive and enthusiastic learners who are not only fascinated with the details of history, but are also intrigued by the process of finding out about the past.

Following the National Curriculum programmes of study, our pupils will explore a wide range of aspects of history through meaningful and focused learning experiences. Creative stimuli such as class visits, historical actors and artefacts are used to ‘hook’ pupils into an activity, while key questions support an enquiry approach. Throughout the key stages, the following concepts are developed, returned to and built upon:

• Interpretation
• Enquiry
• Change and continuity
• Similarities and differences

There is a strong focus on developing pupils’ sense of chronology throughout the curriculum so that they can make connections within and across the areas studied. Timelines in each class are interactive and help pupils to see the ‘big picture’.

In designing our history curriculum, we have utilised our proximity to the River Tyne and our school Victorian building. Three units of learning enable pupils to investigate similarities and differences within our locality, including the role of the river to industry and ship building, and the opportunity to study the impact of WW2 on our school and neighbourhood.

In each year group throughout Key Stage 2, one unit of learning is taught in-depth, allowing pupils to focus on the key characteristics of the period, make links and develop a deep understanding of the topic.