History

Curriculum Statement

Our village and our local surrounding area are steeped in history and our history curriculum is designed to make use of these invaluable resources: Witton Castle; Weardale Railway (an off-shoot from the first railway – Stockton and Darlington Railway); local heroes from world wars; Binchester Roman Fort; Prince Bishops and Auckland Castle. Our history curriculum is designed to strengthen our pupils’ pride and sense of belonging to our locality, through local studies and trips as well as invitations to local visitors. 

We aim to inspire our pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the world as well as their place in it, and to arouse a curiosity for the people and events that came before us. Starting in EYFS, and progressing into KS1, children will learn about historical people and places which they can relate to their own lives, families and communities. This progresses to learning about significant people and places and reasons why we remember them which prepares our pupils for remembering significant periods in the KS2 curriculum. In KS2, children build a coherent, chronological narrative of important periods of British history from the first settlers to the invasions that followed. KS2 pupils will also have opportunities for comparative work and to form judgements on the advancements of other societies and civilisations around the world: it stretches their understanding that different people lived around the world at the same time. We will maintain a strong local aspect to history, looking at the changes that have happened in our village over time including the development of the railway through the village and its impact.

Embedded in our curriculum are five lenses through which children will develop their knowledge and understanding of the subject. These five lenses (Everyday Life, Special Places, Technology, Settlements and Dwellings, and Wars and Invasions) run as threads through our curriculum from EYFS to Year 6 and supports our pupils in making connections and in developing a strong overview of chronology, breadth and, local to global, history which builds a stronger web of knowledge to ensure it sticks.

As developing historians, children will develop their speaking and listening skills by being encouraged to question and challenge ideas with evidence through class discussion and debates about what is happening today and use the past to inform those opinions. Over the course of their time at Witton-le-Wear, pupils will develop an understanding of how we know about the past through a range of sources of evidence and with increasing confidence will consider their utility and reliability.

Curriculum Overview