What is Taught?

History and knowing where we came from is such an important aspect of our education. At Poppleton Road, we recognise this and endeavour to teach a broad range of time periods and historical figures to our children. Below is the coverage for each year group across the school for the year 2022/2023. Although there is a period of History that is the driver for each half term, the focus is always on the skills and giving the children the tools they need to learn themselves. Below is an outline of the periods of History taught across KS1 and KS2 in line with the national curriculum requirements. Each of these subjects are taught with a focus on the key skills in each year group (see below).

When are Specific Skills and Knowledge Taught?

Chronology is an ongoing theme that is covered across both key stages. It is vital that children understand where periods of history are placed on the world timeline but also that they have an understanding of the fact that time periods coincide in different parts of the world. This starts by looking at periods in living memory and beyond living memory in year one, all the way to the chronological understanding of pre-1066 Britain and an in-depth understanding of our timeline. The table below gives you an outline of which skills are taught and the progression of these skills throughout the primary provision at our school.

How do we Teach?

What makes history such an exciting topic at Poppleton Road is the fact that there is so much cross curricular potential – children learn where maths and writing began, how science developed over the years and how we came to understand the world. It is a driver of many of our topics which gives children the opportunity to immerse themselves in the past. A key part of our history teaching is also the out of school experiences that we strive to give to children – from being a Viking for the Day at Murton Park, to walking around Norman York and many more experiences. We also use Google Expeditions to allow children to virtually experiences things that it would not normally be possible to see. Within each period of History taught, we focus on the skills that children need to become Historians.

Why do we Teach?

Our ever increasingly diverse curriculum reflects the children in our school and their history. This allows us to give all children an understanding of where we come from. From ancient civilisations across the world to looking at the impact other countries and cultures have had on our society, the curriculum is broad and relevant to our modern day society. 

History also allows children to build their critical thinking skills as they will have access to a range of primary and secondary sources to learn from and evaluate.

The area of York has such a rich history and this allows children to learn from so many different sources in and out of the classroom. . Whether it is learning about the Vikings and Anglo Saxon’s battle for power in our city or the Roman’s building Clifford’s Tower, there is so much that the children can access. This is built in to our pupil passports also – learning the History of our school through World War II.