History
Intent
At Old Hill Primary School, our history curriculum develops pupils’ understanding of the past and how it has shaped the world we live in today.
The curriculum is designed to build secure knowledge of key historical periods, alongside the development of disciplinary thinking. Pupils develop a clear sense of chronology and explore key concepts including change and continuity, cause and consequence, similarity and difference, and historical significance.
Pupils are taught to think as historians by:Asking questions about the past
- Interpreting a range of historical sources
- Developing and justifying their own interpretations
Our curriculum reflects our local context. Pupils study the history of Old Hill and the surrounding area, including the impact of the Industrial Revolution and mining, enabling them to understand the heritage of their community.
Implementation
History is taught through carefully sequenced enquiry questions that enable pupils to build knowledge and understanding over time.
Lessons focus on developing key disciplinary knowledge and skills, including:
- Interpreting primary and secondary sources
- Developing chronological understanding
- Analysing cause and consequence
- Identifying similarities and differences
- Evaluating historical interpretations
Teachers ensure that knowledge is explicitly taught and builds on prior learning. Historical vocabulary is clearly introduced and revisited to support pupils in explaining their thinking with precision.
The curriculum is structured progressively. Pupils begin by exploring changes within living memory before studying more complex historical periods, including ancient civilisations and significant events in British and world history.
Assessment is ongoing within lessons and through end-of-unit checks to identify gaps and inform future teaching.
Impact
-
Pupils at Old Hill Primary School:
- Demonstrate secure knowledge of key historical periods and events
- Understand chronology and make links across time periods
- Use historical vocabulary accurately
- Interpret and evaluate sources with increasing confidence
- Explain cause, consequence and change over time
- Develop and justify their own historical interpretations
Pupils retain knowledge over time and apply it when studying new areas of history. They make connections between different periods and understand how the past has shaped the present.
Assessment is used to support teaching and is based on four key areas:
- Knowledge
- Skills
- Vocabulary
- Understanding
Teachers use ongoing formative assessment, retrieval of prior learning and end-of-unit checks to identify gaps and ensure pupils build secure knowledge over time.
By the end of Year 6, pupils leave Old Hill Primary School as confident historians who can recall, explain, analyse and make connections across the curriculum.
Geography Curriculum Overview
Our geography curriculum is structured so that pupils build their understanding of the world progressively.
- Key Stage 1: Pupils study their local environment, the United Kingdom, continents and oceans
- Lower Key Stage 2: Pupils study physical geography, including rivers, mountains and earthquakes
- Upper Key Stage 2: Pupils study global environments such as deserts and rainforests, alongside climate systems and sustainability
A full overview of the geography curriculum for each year group can be found below.
Enrichment Opportunities
At Old Hill Primary School we believe geography should be experienced as well as studied. First-hand experiences and fieldwork play an important role in helping pupils understand geographical processes and the relationship between people and the environment.
Pupils take part in a range of enrichment opportunities that allow them to apply their geographical knowledge and skills in real-world contexts.
These include:
• Local fieldwork around Old Hill, where pupils investigate how the local environment has changed over time and study features of human geography within their community.
• River studies, where pupils investigate river features and processes, helping them understand how water shapes the landscape.
• Coastal fieldwork at the seaside, where pupils explore coastal environments and investigate how physical processes such as erosion and deposition shape coastlines.
• A study of tourism in Weston-super-Mare, where pupils examine how tourism affects local economies, environments and communities.
Through these experiences, pupils develop practical geographical skills including observation, data collection, map work and the interpretation of geographical features.
