History

​History Rationale

We believe that children do not learn just by reading texts, but through asking questions, conducting their own research and having hands on experiences.

At Horsley, our Early Years follow the principles from the EYFS through Understanding the World. Children are encouraged to talk about significant past and present events within their own lives and to notice the similarities and differences within the lives of others.  When the children start their journey at Horsley School, they are encouraged to make their own special ‘All about me’ book. This helps the children to talk about their very own family tree and to compare themselves as unique individuals.

Throughout Key Stage 1 History is taught as part of our current topics. Our teachers thrive to make creative links between the foundation and core subjects to support our children’s investigative and enquiry skills.  For example to fit in with the topic ‘What a Wonderful World’ that explores travelling to different parts of the world, we looked closely at the adventures of Christopher Columbus and compared these to the adventures of Sunny the Meerkat from our chosen fictional text.

Across Key Stage 2 pupils continue to extend their knowledge and understanding of chronology by exploring time lines in order to discover connections, contrasts and trends over periods of time. Years 4, 5 and 6 have been extremely lucky to delve into theme days such as ‘Roman day’ and ‘The Stone Age day’ to fully experience what life was like in the past.